Jutsu no Kage
by uzumakicho
Summary: Kage Bushin no Jutsu was the Second's greatest Justu. On the night he defeats Mizuki, Naruto learns its secrets and is tasked with the second's legacy. Not following cannon timeline and probably not going where you think. Warning! Extremely dark at times.
1. Chapter 1

**AN;** My first story and I don't mind harsh critique, as I'd like to become a better writer. I don't own Naruto, though I hope you enjoy my rendition.

5/14/15: Finally started going through to fix some stuff. Got about half the way through. I'll try to periodically go back and fix chapters. If you see anything glaringly annoying, throw out a review. I do like those.

I don't own Naruto

 **Day Zero**

Among the giant trees grown by the first Hokage, deep in the forest outside Konoha, a fight was coming to a close. Naruto stood over the bloody and beaten body of a traitor, panting heavily. His deep red eyes, coldly stared at the man, who'd attempted to take away the first person to truly acknowledge him. Smoke slowly lifted from the clearing, as his shadows dispersed. His eyes became unfocused, reverting back to a cobalt blue, and he fell back into the arms of his sensei, already dead asleep. Iruka pulled the boy back, trembling in disbelieve at what had just occurred. He leaned back against a tree, while looking over his student, in thought.

'How could he have learned that jutsu so quickly, and made so many? I knew he had a large amount of chakra, but I didn't know it was so much." Then a look of realization broke across his face, followed by shame. 'That was why he couldn't perform the bushin properly, and the chakra control exercises. How could I have not known?' He took the goggles off of the sleeping boy and replaced it with his headband. "You deserved this more than any other student I've passed Naruto. You'll be a great ninja someday."

While sleeping Naruto dreamed of the event and fragments of the fight from many different angles came together to give an indescribable perspective of the fight. Mizuki's face in horror and his screams, as Naruto beat the man to within an inch of his life, echoed over and over. The hate that flashed through his being as he formed the hand sign for his jutsu, and the immense power that surged through him. The deep cackling voice….

Naruto woke up with a start, the barking laughter still faintly audible, eyes wide open darting around the room. The scent of the old man's tobacco filled his nose and he became aware of the hand grasping his shoulder. Brown comforting eyes found the wild eyes of Naruto and, as the awareness of his situation sunk in, he sank back into the couch.

"Kage Bushin no Jutsu. The Second considered it his greatest jutsu and greatest failure."

Naruto turned to see the Hokage sitting behind his desk tapping out his pipe. "Jiji."

"As one of my ninja's, you'll have to refer to me as Hokage Jiji from now on Naruto." Hiruzen said with a smirk.

Naruto's eyes widened again as he turned to Iruka, who nodded and pointed to his forehead. Naruto noticed the missing headband and reached up, with a shaking hand, to feel the cool metal fastened to his head. Tears threatened to spill over his eye lids and he looked down, clenching his fists.

"Finally." He whispered.

"You've just learned the Second's greatest Justu. I'd attempted to use it, but was unable to overcome the mental backlash from gaining so many memories at once. The doctor assured me that you were completely fine, and that your accelerated healing will allow you to be the first person to master the jutsu. If you hadn't noticed, you receive the memories of your shadow clones when they dispel. This will allow you to train many times faster than normal. You are the inheritor of a jutsu that will allow you to become more powerful than any of the previous Hokage."

Naruto sat speechless, mouth agape, mirroring Iruka.

The Hokage pulled out two books and handed them to Naruto across the desk.

"The first book is the book the Second gave me when I graduated the academy. Chakra control will be your biggest enemy. With your chakra reserves, I suggest you make mastering every technique in this book your first goal. As for the second, it's a journal. The limits of that jutsu have never truly been tested, and I expect you to find out what can be done and document it in that journal. Someday another Hokage will hand that over to the next person to carry on this legacy. How far can you make them, in what positions, or speed? Can they already be doing actions or jutsu? These are just the tip of the ice berg. You have seven days to train before team assignments and I expect great things from you Naruto. It's time to put away your childish persona and act like the shinobi this village needs you to be. I need you to be."

Naruto shot up to his feet, "I won't let you down Hokage jiji."

He bowed low and whispered, "I'll be the weapon I was born to be.

 **Day One**

Mid-morning Naruto was in his apartment staring at five mirror images.

'They can do justu and think on their own. They have their own opinions on what they should try', and when five more Narutos appeared and six walked out the door, Naruto was brought out of of his thoughts. He'd been silent since their creation, half an hour ago, as the unnerving sensation of speaking with other people, that too were him, held his tongue. A sentiment that he'd shared with another one of him. Naruto closed his eyes and let his mind wander again, feeling slightly weak after splitting his chakra equally with them.

The other shadows made plans to leave and do various things while he laid back in thought. 'Soon I'll have a team, a Jonin sensei that may or may not hate me, and a chance to take on the Second's legacy as my own. I should move, but my clones are out doing stuff, so it okay to rest up and let it all sink in, right? Be the shinobi _he_ , needs me to be. Jiji.'

Eventually, the door closed following the almost rhythmic shuffle of feet out of his apartment. The clone from earlier still there silently staring at him.

He slowly pulled himself up to a sitting position ending the movement with sigh, and turned to his clone.

"Hey, whatcha thinking about?"

The shadow clone's eyes lingered on his own a moment before shifting up a bit. It then reached out and touched his head, vanishing into chakra hot on his brow. He could feel a portion of his chakra return, while the world stalled between beats.

 **Shadow**

He was, again, sitting among his mirrors looking at himself from another place in the room, the last moments faded and all but gone. He was a shadow clone and then he thought, 'once I'm gone my life would return to the original and at that moment he'll live that life. Would he be in control? I'm in control now.' His muscles flexed at his command, the undercurrent of chakra that comprised his body was palpable, like breathing. He focused on his chakra, forming the ram seal in his lap. His eyes wandered over to the original. He felt his chakra and a faint connection to the original. He focused through the banter of the other shadows becoming more aware the connection. The sounds of other shadows marching out on their own journey's muted into the background while his focus slid across the silky formless softness that extended from himself to the original.

'At some moment I will return. Time is like a luxury that I can exchange for chakra. Shadows like echoes in time.' The shutting of the door, dangerously tugging him back to the room only to be thrust, fully, back into the moment when his eyes became locked with the one who's time line he'd diverged from.

The other him slowly rose into a sitting pose and sighed.

"Hey, whatcha thinking about?"

He thought on that, while sluggishly tearing his eyes away from the curious gaze of himself, up to his forehead, 'would there be best?' While reaching up to touch the other boy's head, and willing his chakra as to return to himself through touch, the strange connection had gotten exponentially stronger as his hand got closer, like a static charge increasing in magnitude until arcing into the original.

 **Original**

His perception flipped, giving him an odd sense of vertigo.

A few hours later…

A pot had found itself on the stove, filled with boiling water. Naruto, eagerly dropping his choice noodles into the hot bath, had decided to enjoy some food of the gods. He sat, staring out the window, looking around for himself. 'Would I even look my-self?' Images and thoughts from his shadow replaying in his mind, as he sat.

Then Naruto's thoughts accompanied the routine – like – dance of Ramen, that ended in a mouthful of a savory, nectar - like satisfaction, the likes he could rarely speak of. Well, outside of Ramen's sweet embrace. He thought on the concept of having more time, 'So, while I sit here, I'm also out there in chakra bodies doing things as well. So each time I spit myself, I get another life. Or at least some amount of time depending on how much chakra I use. I wish I was better at math, so I could calculate…uhhh how much time I get.' His face held a look of concentration while he thought about his new jutsu and time. Suddenly his eyes where forced shut and the wealth of sounds, he'd suddenly became aware of, slowed to a low rumble rising in intensity until silence gripped him.

 **Shadow**

In front of the other shadows and his original, which seemed drained from the technique, a shadow sat, one leg bobbing. The other leg supporting an elbow, holding up the face scowling at the clucking of shadows, trying to be the 'boss'. Suddenly, he shot up, "I'm going off to perfect our Jutsu."

A cross of his fingers and five more shadows appeared in step with him, determined looks on their faces. He pulled open the door and walked into the hallway, "Training grounds, now."

The looks he and his fellow shadows immediately received, strolling in formation down the street, only filled him with more purpose than ever. He would succeed and become the next Hokage.

"Dattebayo!" He screamed, thrusting a fist into the air. The shadows shouting, "Yosh!", as they walked on to the academy training grounds.

"Let's divide as much as we can and then do that leaf chakra control exercise with the last of our chakra!"

 **Original**

The memories where quick and yet he'd felt like he'd spent days training with the leaf exercise. He'd lost count of number of memories he received, a field full of shadows focused on the task at hand. Conversations between other shadows gaining new meaning once he'd lived through each side of the conversation. At times receiving the same advice he'd given his last life, and, again, the world swooned about him. Expecting to snap into another time and experience it all over again, he was greeted by the feeling and the dull thud of his face smashing against the cool tiles of his kitchen floor.

He pulled himself to his knees, hunched over and panting deliberately to regain his breath. His eyes found the clock to stare at the time it indicated and felt slightly sick. 'it's been days, or weeks, and only…'

Sleep.

An hour later he awoke, still on the floor. He lifted his head away from the tiles, sighing, before reaching out to an errant paper towel that had accompanied him to the floor. He focused his chakra and the paper stuck firmly to his hand. He wiped the drool from his mouth while looking up to the wall.

"Hmmm."

Naruto headed over to his couch and was then engrossed in the old and thumbed through book on chakra control. The words written into the sides of the book bringing concepts together at times and then confusing the matter further.

" _Focusing chakra to different locations on the body can enhance those parts. Learning how those parts are effected and how much chakra to channel, is important in sharpening one's senses and reaction times. This can mean the difference between a living and a dead shinobi_."

He turned the page to look at places to write down the effects of channeling his chakra to different areas, "I should do that some time."

Turning the page again brought him to a page summarizing the techniques discussed.

"Chakra strings, learning to connect my chakra to stuff. That sounds useful. Like that connection between my shadows and me."

"Surface attachment, walking and channeling chakra to use them as surfaces."

"That sounds goo-."

 **Shadow**

The Shadows were gathered around each other. A shadow suddenly shot up, "I'm going off to perfect our Jutsu." Five clones fell in line with the first shadow and left out the door. Another shadow snuck out behind them, averting his eyes. Naruto narrowed his eyes, 'that one will be up to no good.' One shadow reached out and snagged the book on chakra control, jiji had given him, a slip of paper falling out of the book. The shadow picked it up the paper, and scrunched up his face for a moment. Then he sighed, "I'll be at the library." And dropped the book.

"I wonder what it said" Naruto said, looking around to see the original, laying back with his eyes closed and the other one focused intently on the original.

"Creepy" he said to himself. He rose up and jogged out, shutting the door behind himself. He could see the Formation of shadows that strode down the street and thought to avoid the glare that seemed to magnify with each additional Naruto a villager would lay eyes on.

The green haired, slightly taller, ninja that left at a brisk pace from the front door of his apartment still bore, although less defined, the whisker marks of Uzumaki Naruto. He deftly weaved through the midday rush down – town to cross the village. The smells and sights of food, some offered freely, as small bite sized treats lifted his spirits.

'Not really hungry, do I eat?'

He snagged a BBQ ribblet from a cute Akamiki girl, mid-stride, off the large platter she held out in offering to by – passers. "Come back and eat soon ninja – san!"

, hung in the wind as he popped the treat in his mouth and chewed. 'Good, but lacks the normal feeling of satisfaction from eating something' he thought. Turning a sharp corner, in his blind shot, appeared a clean, crisp, white title, "Icha Icha Paradise" over his favorite shade of orange, a book, where a man's face should be. Naruto closed his eyes, before impact with the book's owner. He felt, only the man's hands grab his shoulders a leg across his stomach and they slowed down very quickly. The pressure from the contact released and Naruto opened his eyes to see, what the book was hiding. The Konoha headband slanted over one eye. The other half – lidded eye gazing questioningly at him. Below, nothing besides a cloth ninja mask and above, silver hair jetted from the man's head at an angle towards the sky. An orange book, then, fell from the sky, the ninja snatching the book out of the air, returning it to a position low enough for his single eye to gaze at Naruto.

'Hatake Kakashi no Sharingan, so cool!'

Naruto bowed to the lazy – eyed – man, "Ah, sorry sempai."

"Mah, where are you headed to in such a hurry, and why aren't you channeling chakra to your feet while you run?" came from behind the orange book.

Naruto paused a moment, 'channeling chakra to my feet?', "I was thinking about the BBQ I'd gotten from an akimiki girl in the market, and I'm actually going to train channeling chakra to my feet right now. Maybe you can give me some advice on how to best to do that?" Naruto said with a bow.

Belatedly, standing up straighter, while waiting a reply, hopeful eyes and smile were plastered across the green haired teen's face.

Two fingers came up and tapped Naruto in the leaf symbol of his head band.

Naruto's head went back a bit with the tap, the man's one eye narrowing slightly after he made contact.

The book was gone and the straightening of his head band revealed a black and red, patterned eye.

"Well, you channel chakra to your feet and pay attention to how tightly it binds your feet to the surfaces they're touching. Then run up walls or trees and mark your progress." Kakashi said absentmindedly as he gazed at Naruto slowly circling around him.

Naruto, now on the other side, with wary eyes thought, 'I wonder if I he can see through my henge. At least he gave me something to do.'

"Uh, ok shinobi – san, later." Naruto said back pedaling quickly, before turning back into his jog.

Naruto jogged for a couple for minutes, then started looking around and slowing down. "Where the heck did I go?"

"Fire release: fire ball jutsu"

A roaring followed the young boy's shout. Naruto whipped round to see the fire ball sail across a small pond. Naruto squinted against the heat, barley making out the Uchiha crest on the back of the young ninja's blue shirt. Naruto quickly made four shadows and hid with them out of sight, save for one which began clapping.

"Wow, Uchiha – san, to have mastered such a strong jutsu already, is no small feat."

Sasuke, standing on the shore of the small pond, surrounded by wisps of stream whipped to life by the fire ball, turned his head around to see the older green haired ninja.

"What are you doing on Uchiha clan grounds?" Sasuke said wearily, eyeing the Konoha head band and the whisker marks on his face.

A sheepish look passed over Naruto's face, "Well I'm honestly not sure how I ended up here. I was hoping to watch some older ninja train to see if I could learn something or get some training tips and somehow ended up here. I bet you could show me something Uchiha – san, if you would be so kind." Finishing with a small bow, Naruto stood quietly, watching Sasuke's expression roll around between a sneer and a smirk.

Settling on a smirk Sasuke said," I guess we could spar, see how you do against an Uchiha."

Naruto bowed again and recanted, "Well I'm supposed to be taking it easy after an injury I suffered but we could go through the motions with taps. If you don't mind."

Sasuke nodded after a pause, and settled into the taijutsu stance of the intercept style. Naruto awkwardly got into a stance, and a badly hidden look of horror settled on the Uchiha's face. They closed in and Sasuke started slapping through Naruto's defenses and batting away the sloppy swings. The difference between their skills in hand – to – hand was even more blaring than it was in the academy, as they slowly went through the motions. Then by foot work alone Naruto was sent to his butt by Sasuke.

"Whoa." Naruto whispered softly. His eyes blankly stared out into the distance.

Sasuke's face took on a grimace, and glanced away.

Naruto finally turned to look up and see the side of Sasuke's face.

"Uchiha – san, may we do that one more time?" Naruto said softly while rising to his feet.

Sasuke turned to see his slight bow before darting into his guard and tapping at him again.

Naruto could genuinely see how much he was going to have to train in his taijutsu. Naruto's eyes shifted to just over Sasuke's shoulder, and then smiled at his fellow genin, "kage bushin no jutsu."

Four shadows burst from clouds and each of them bowed.

"What's this?" Sasuke relaxed his stance and took a step back.

Naruto crossed his arms and said, "I need more of me to make it even."

Sasuke smiled faintly and began trading taps with the shadows. The spar started ramping up as Sasuke was forced to move more and more quickly to stay ahead of the four clones, whom started tapping with more force. Before long clones where being popped and bursting back into existence all around Sasuke. Sweat was pouring down the side of the Uchiha's face and he'd long since abandoned the notion that he'd end up hitting the original. The clones had at first gotten in each other's way at first, though as the fight progressed they started coordinating their attacks and it became an all – out brawl.

Soon the sun was setting and the last clone fighting Sasuke burst around his fist. Panting heavily he looked over at the green haired boy smiling at him from across the field.

"Thanks for the spar Uchiha – san." Naruto gave a small bow and then disappeared in another puff of smoke.

On top of a building over – looking the field a shadow opened his eyes to see Sasuke bow and walk away dragging his feet, sudden;t looking more tired than he'd shown in their spar. "Guess you're not so bad Uchiha." Then he was gone as well.

 **Original**

The endless spar faded into dreams of the very same spar from an angle not seen by any of the Shadows. A reenactment of the event that could be moved around to change the perception. 'Is this an effect of the seeing the same event from so many angles? A deeper understanding of what happened?' This thoughts, a thin vail of wakefulness before he was in his apartment again, shadows sitting around in a circle.

 **Shadow**

He was speaking, but so were some the others. One shadow stood up and made five clones, spouting off about wow he was going to master their Jutsu. Naruto stood up and reached for the Book that jiji had given him. It felt well – worn in his hands, as he snatched it from the table. A piece of paper fell from the book and he reached down to grab it. It read;

"Naruto, I'm glad you've decided to take your studies seriously as a ninja. This book is but one of a treasure trove of information available at the library. With your new jutsu I'm sure you'll be able to send a group of shadows to read up on all the information you need to succeed as a ninja. I'm proud of you."

-Jiji

PS. Remember a true shinobi can be any number of people, and you can be that in any number of places. Don't send a group of Narutos to scare the librarian.

His face involuntary scrunched up as he digested the information. "I'll be at the library." He said absentmindedly to one of the other shadows as he dropped the book back to the table. 'Any number of faces huh?' he thought as he walked out of the apartment. He went around the corner into an ally along – side his apartment building. He sat down to ponder for a minute before crossing his fingers and creating ten more shadows. They each took on a henge and walked out in different directions. Naruto headed straight to the library.

"Shinobi tactics, basic anatomy, chakra theory, and sealing for idiots were the recommendations on the back of the card, so you guys each get a book on one of those and read them. And I'll take a look at what jutsus they had available."

E and D- rank Justus (at the filing cabinet for genin scrolls.)

"Rope escape, I do get caught sometimes."

"Chakra transfer. Maybe I could transfer chakra together to make super awesome jutsu!"

"Shhhhh!" came from seemingly nowhere.

Naruto looked around to find himself alone and shrugged his shoulders.

'Body flicker, channeling chakra to my body to move at high speeds. Now that is awesome.'

Naruto went and grabbed the scrolls for those justu to check them out and sat down at a table. Soon ten other people came and sat down, each with three books and one with four, the fourth being, "sealing for idiots".

"This was the only one they had." A girl with long blonde hair said.

Naruto nodded, "Each of you thumb through the books you found and let me read this justu. I think I have an idea." Each of the Shadows nodded and began to look at their books.

'Chakra types, elemental affinities, changing chakra to fit others, establishing a connection, chakra transfer.'

'Let's start with establishing a connection.'

Naruto's finger glided down the scroll to "establish connection". '

'Imagine a string of chakra extending from you to a person. The focus your chakra from your core, along that imaginary string until you feel a back flux of chakra. This is when you'll asses the "feeling" of the chakra and begin to match that feeling in the chakra in your string, outside your body. Once this is done you can attempt to pull the other person's chakra into yourself or push your chakra into them.'

Naruto stared at the colorful drawing of chakra extending from someone's core to another person.

He looked up at one of the shadows and tried to image a string connecting him to the shadow, and then closed his eyes. He suddenly became aware of a connection between them, although extremely faint, like a whisper. He focused chakra into it and felt his chakra fill up and strengthen the connection. He then felt for the connection between his other shadows and felt the same whisper from them as well. He focused on the strings and they were brought to life as well. The shadows all stopped what they were doing, some turning immediately and others taking a moment to feel it. Naruto pulled the chakra from the shadows, dispersing them, and much of the energy that he was originally given was still there.

'I guess walking around and reading doesn't require that much chakra.'

Then his eyes lit up with realization, 'As a shadow, I don't suffer from the memory overload effects because I'm made of chakra. I'll have to read that scroll on chakra constructs and summons too. Reading Justus and about being a badass ninja isn't so bad.'

He glanced at the table and looked over the books he'd thumbed through picking up the ones he'd wanted and stacked ten of them up.

Naruto put the jutsu scrolls along with the new scroll on chakra constructs and summons on top of the stack and carried the tower of books to the front desk.

He piled them carefully on to the desk and looked around for someone to check him out. From around the corner a brown haired girl came, pausing in mid-stride, eyes squinting at the stack of books on the counter and the blond haired boy looking around.

"Do you need some help?" She said walking closer to the boy. Her eyes wondered over his face, idling on the whisker marks.

The memory of the night, when the Fox attacked. Her celebration party for becoming a chunin was only months prior. The ominous hanging presence, the feeling that she would be burned away with everything in its path. She saw it, on the horizon. The tails, blurry lines kicking up trees and the earth like sand. The roar, vibrating to her core, driving deeper the terror and feeling up helplessness, of death's grasp reaching out to pull her soul from this world.

"Yes, I'd like to check out these books."

Her eyes snapped back into focus on the boy and she paused staring into his eyes before looking over to the tower of books.

"How are you even going to carry these all the way home, much less read all of them before their due?" The librarian said with a raised eyebrow, her hands coming to rest on her hips.

Naruto smiled widely at her, before leaning in conspiratorially, the boy's eyes darting around, "It's a secret. I'll be back soon though."

The librarian smiled faintly and thought, 'So the stories of the demon child were greatly exaggerated.'

Naruto checked out the books and waddled slowly out of the library. He continued around the corner before putting down the books, splitting into eight, henging into different people and taking the books, to head in different directions.

Naruto, who remained in his own form, on his way, pondered, "How can I read the books as quick as possible?"

Naruto went off a path into a large forest in the village. He arrived in a short grass meadow towards the middle of the forest. He sat down with his eyes closed and looked for the connection to his shadows. He sat for 20 mins before he was able to sense the connection to his clones, one by one the connection became stronger. As they reached him, he pulled the chakra back to himself, slowly, while the clone let go of his form. The memories of the journey to reach him coming to him as the chakra flooded his body. The smoke that puffed into existence when the clones form finally gave way became less and less with each shadow's arrival. The last clone's chakra visibly hung like a cloud funneled to Naruto.

He opened his eyes to stare at the stack of books and smiled. Ten clones came into existence, each grabbing a book and flipping to the table of contents. Clones burst into existence and page numbers were given.

Each clone reading a chapter and passing it back to the original in order when done. 2 hours later Naruto was done reading all of the books.

"I'm pretty tired of reading." Naruto said after the last of the chakra form the clone reading seal's for idiots.

"Calligraphy was required to make seals and that's awesome."

Naruto sprung to his feet and took off into the forest while a shadow came into existence and began picking up the books. He headed off towards the market. The first glares from the villagers prompted him to change his appearance to a non-specific genin with brown hair and brown eyes.

A few minutes later he found a store, "Art of the Brush."

A chime for some soft Bamboo accompanied the opening of the thick wooden door. Lines lit up on the grains of wood and he felt the chakra surrounding him drain away into it. His wide eyes shot to the door.

"Welcome, and don't worry too much about your henge. I don't sell to people under disguise, though, maybe I'll let you reapply it if you'd like."

Naruto's mouth hung slightly agape before pulling back into a slight grimace.

He swiveled around to see an old man, with a slight hunch gripping a cane in the middle of the shop, sitting atop a wood bench. Thin white hair was held in a long pony tail down his back. His equally long mustache draped down the side of his mouth and his squinted eyes, only showed dark sharp points. His tan leathery skin was mostly hidden by the long silk white robe.

"Let me guess. You'd like to copy down some storage seals." came the wizened scratchy voice.

"Umm, well. I'd like to first learn calligraphy, so I can eventually write my own seals."

"That will take years of practice and lots of patience." He old man said, eyeing the boy carefully.

"Well, I've got time."

Naruto's eyes finally found the sign, first lesson free with a starters calligraphy set and he paused.

"And you have a great special going on."

"If you've gotten the money I'll go over the basics with you, takes about two hours, or two one hour sessions." Said the old man.

"Alright, I'll be back with money."

The old man's eye brows raised a bit, "You came without money?"

"Just thought about it now." Naruto said sheepishly before turning and jetting out of the door.

A few minutes later he was at his apartment, 'wonder if the original is still here', he thought as he opened the door. There on the floor was the original drooling onto the floor. Oh, well, that makes things interesting. He paused in thought before focusing on the boy. Soon he felt the connection, 'much stronger than with the other shadows. He won't mind if I took a little bit for myself.'

He pulled at the chakra and it came quickly at first and he was forced to pinch it off. He then reached into the secret stash that held his money and took twice the necessary amount. 'If the guy is willing to teach, then I should take the opportunity to use the rest of my day learning."

He was soon out of his apartment and shortly after in the store again having his Henge ripped away. He stared at the seals again, "cool."

"Ah, back and with money I hope." The elderly man said, sitting just as Naruto had left him.

Naruto smiled widely and gave the man the amount for a lesson and starter's kit. Then paused and put a few more coins down on the bench, next to the white haired man, "And that, is for keeping what goes on here to yourself." Naruto's hand slowly revealed the half the money again on the bench, while starting at the man.

"HA, well it seems you have a little more sense than I'd first thought. You don't run a shop in a shinobi village without knowing how to keep your mouth shut." The old man slowly rose to walk over to the counter and grabbed a box that had not been there before. He pulled out a smaller box filled with sand and set it on the floor along with a long stick. He then went over to the bench and moved it to the back of the store. He reached into a large box along the back wall, and pulled out a large scroll. He hung the two wooden dolls in the center of the scroll to two hanging chains from the ceiling and the bottom doll to a contraption on the floor. The old man reached over and cranked the handle on the side of the contraption and the scroll began to roll to expose new paper. Then turning around, he pointed to the center of the room.

"Bring your sand box to the front and sit with it in front of you. You will then follow my strokes."

Naruto grabbed the box and the stick and stood farthest from the old man towards the front of the store. He put foot on the box and the stick in his pocket before crossing his fingers and closing his eyes to focus. Chakra started to become visible around the room before 50 shadows appeared in five rows of ten in front of the old man.

The old man eyed them for a moment as they all opened their eyes, got on their knees and pulled their sticks from their pockets.

The white haired man glanced at Naruto who only crossed his arms and nodded before closing his eyes.

A thin smile spread slightly across the old man's face, and the lessons began.

[two hours later]

Naruto bowed deeply to the man before purchasing some extra sealing paper and ink after the lesson was over.

"I'd warn you about the disastrous things that can happen when you incorrectly pen seals, but I guess you don't have to worry about that. Just go somewhere away from people, and don't tell anyone you learned calligraphy from me until I see you." And he paused in thought. "At least 100 more times, if I understand your special technique."

The man asked for a demonstration of the kanji that he'd gone over with the boy and was amazed to see progress leaps and bounds beyond what he'd expected. He shook his head slightly before looking back up to the blonde boy's face.

"Don't worry old, man. I'll keep coming back until I'm a master of the brush!" He fist pumped into the air with enthusiasm, and the old man just tapped his cane lightly on the ground. "Bye – bye now Naruto." He said flatly.

Naruto made it back to his apartment to find the original on the floor with the book on chakra control he'd left at home. He put the original in bed and looked over the book again before placing it down. He touched Naruto's head and disappeared.

 **Original**

Dreams were a jumble of memories that he couldn't quite understand. The splitting head ache brought him out of his sleep, still sweating and sitting in wet sheets, he wiped his brow and peered out the window. It was dark and a sudden feeling of foreboding came over him as he realized that his fifth shadow had never returned. A shiver went down his back and he flopped back onto the bed.

"Shit, I didn't like the look of his face and what was that in his hand?" Naruto closed his eyes putting together the fragments of memory until his eyes shot open. "The mask! Oh shit!"

He went to jump out of bed but stopped. Silence reigned for a moment before he closed his eyes and focused on finding the link between him and his clone. He lay there motionless for close to 20 minutes before he felt it. Weak and fluttering in and out of his perception until he was able to draw a little bit of chakra into the line.

'Should just pull the chakra back? He doesn't feel like he's doing much.'

And suddenly he felt a wave of something coming along the line.

 **Shadow**

Sitting cross legged Naruto sat amongst the other shadows and spoke, "We should try to find out more about the second hokage. Maybe jiji can tell us where- "And he was cut off mid-sentence by a shadow jumping to his feet, and making five clones. "I'm off to perfect…."

And then he was back in his mind drowning out the voices of the other shadows with his thoughts as he snuck to the bedroom. 'I don't know why I bother. No one ever pays attention to me unless it's to put me down. I'm outta here."

He grabbing the fox mask from his wall and exited as quickly as possible.

Once out of the door he climbed up to the roof along the gutter and sat with the mask over his face. He stared over the village, absentmindedly noting the disdainful looks the other shadows received.

He saw a shinobi running across the roof tops and jumping from roof to roof with a tired sort of expression hidden behind the mask. He looked over to the Hokage's tower and sighed. 'He'll probably tell me it's closed and locked up.'

An ANBU came jumping by and Naruto shot up, "ANBU – san!" The Wolf masked ninja stopped and stood lazily letting the holes of his mask line up with the small boy.

Naruto paused for a moment and then bowed, "Anbu – san, I'm sorry for bothering you, but can you please tell me how you are able to jump across the roof?"

The masked man stared at him before turning to leave, "I channel chakra to my legs." And he was gone.

Naurto blinked at his disappearance, and looked around. He could see a figure that looked like him in the distance heading towards the Hokage's tower.

Naruto stood silently for a moment and made six clones. He and five of the shadows sat down and the one standing made 30 shadows. They lined up along one side of the roof adjacent to where the original shadow and the others sat. The first shadow farthest from the others started running towards the end of the roof and leaped towards the other building, his foot breaking the roof tiles and shooting up into the air. He soared 50 meters into the air and when he started to come down cancelled himself in a puff of smoke.

The original shadow stood up, "Find the Senju clan home."

The 30 shadows ran off in different directions jumping to other roofs. Some falling short and others launching into the air and crashing down on the streets, sides of buildings and roof tops.

Naruto pointed at two of the other shadows. "You two should probably go too."

They too stood up, made 30 clones and took off in different directions with mostly the same results. He looked at another scowling and said, "Mask off, go talk to Jiji and see if he's willing to give us a journal or access to the compound."

The Shadow nodded before the mask faded away and he turned to make a run at the roof.

Naruto's voice rose to catch him, "I suggest you take the stairs."

A few minutes later he was in the Hokage's tower walking by the secretary, who looked at him with a smile. "Good morning Uzumaki – san, The Hokage is alone at the moment, but he has a meeting in ten minutes, I suggest you keep it short."

"Alright nee – san" Naruto replied with a smile and a wave.

He was about to throw open the door and stopped for a moment, then knocked.

"Come in came muffled through the door." Naruto pushed open the door to the sweet, musty scent of tobacco.

"Ah, good morning Naruto. I didn't think I'd see you so soon. What can I do for you my boy?"

"Jiji, I was wondering if the second had a journal I could look through?"

The Hokage leaned back a little in thought before speaking, "I'm not sure if I could do that. The only ones that I would have access to are the hokage records that are kept for the new Hokage to look through and anything else is looked in the Senju Clan home. I'm sorry Naruto."

Naruto paused for a moment, 'I probably shouldn't ask him where it is in case we get caught.'

"Ok Jiji, thanks anyways." A weak smile and he was gone in a puff of smoke.

The original shadow's eyes, while closed, twitched a bit while sorting through all of the memories he'd gotten over the past hour. He looked over to the last two shadows sitting next to him playing a card game. "Come." They each made 30 clones and followed Naruto as he jumped from roof top to roof top. As he traveled the memories of his shadows meeting their end trying to keep up with him made it difficult to focus. Finally he arrived at the clan home and after a long wait only 12 shadows made it.

He gazed out at the large wooden walls, much higher than any building in the area. He grimaced, 'Doesn't look like this will be easy.'

62 attempts later, the shadow was alone sitting on the edge of the wall to the Senju clan. His last attempt had involved the shadows standing on top of each other to form a human ladder. He held on to the ledge and the shadows climbed up, to all be captured and drained of chakra by the trees inside the compound, once they jumped down from the wall. It was late night by now and the last of his chakra was dwindling away. He stared at the trees swaying slightly in the breeze and suddenly felt his chakra stop decreasing and slightly increase a bit.

'The original. Time's up I guess.' He closed his eyes and let go of his form.


	2. Chapter 2

A/N; So I'm thinking everything is going great so far. Let me know either way. Thank you to those who've added this story to your favorites or follow list, I hope I don't disappoint. And a huge thank you to netesy1 for posting my first ever review. You Rock! A bit short but it came pretty quick right?

I don't own Naruto

 **Day two**

The Sun beamed through the window rousing Naruto from sleep. He laid a bit longer focusing on the day ahead, feeling heavy in his bed. Slowly, rolling off of his bed to sit on the edge, Naruto opened his eyes, crossed his fingers and five shadows walked out of the room. A flex of his chakra and another clone appeared in mid stride. Clothes were thrown to him and he yawned before putting them on. He walked over to the kitchen, sat down at the table and rested his head. Soon, food was placed out and he began to eat while the shadow took out the journal he'd been given by the Hokage.

"A shadow's personality is determined by the thoughts of the creator. If there is no focus when they are made, they can take on any aspect of the creator at random." The shadow spoke aloud as he wrote.

"One who masters the Kage Bushin should never be the one to fight and the kawarimi should be seal-less and at will so that the original can be replaced with a shadow at all times."

"While Kage Bushins can train almost anything, it is up to the creator to train his body."

"Anything else I forgot?" The shadow asked glancing up from his paper.

Naruto dropped the last piece of bacon in his mouth and mumbled "Henge."

"Ah yes. Because the shadow is a chakra construct its Henge is a true transformation."

Moments later Naruto was kneeling on the ground with his eyes closed. The shadow clone came around from cleaning breakfast, and jumped into the air henging into a headband, which Naruto caught and tied around his head. He closed his eyes again feeling for his Shadows around the village. After a moment he opened his eyes to a tall blonde girl holding out a bag.

"What's this?" He asked to which the blonde only smiled and flooded their connection with her chakra before vanishing leaving a small wisp of smoke like a candle being put out.

Naruto had moved to stop her once the smile had appeared, "No wa-."

 **Shadow**

He was walking out of the apartment on a mission to train his chakra control, eyes focused. 'I'm going to get powerful. I hope the original doesn't slack off. We need him to do his part if we're going to become the next Hokage.' A smile spread across his face as he thought about it and he took off at a run down the street, pumping a fist into the air "Yosh!"

"Yosh!" Came from behind him as a boy in green spandex came running past him. He smiled and put on some speed to pass him and pumped a fist into the air, "Yosh!" he screamed. To his surprise the black bowl cut came bobbing past him slowly. The sweat was coming off the boy dripping passed his clenched teeth, held in an agonizingly wide smile. The boy looked to him and his smile somehow got wider, Naruto couldn't help but smile even wider. "Yosh!" they both screamed as they cut through the street at full speed.

Over a cart lumbering through the street, a bit of chakra to grip the ground while he side stepped a little girl eating a doughnut, only to crash into Lee. Lee was like a wall barely moving from the force, grunting slightly with the impact, then pulling away. He regained his footing licking at Lee's heels. Lee cut a deep left into an ally, springing over a fence and swung off a clothes line to avoid the trays of fish displayed for sale. This put the line out of reach of Naruto and, in panic, he kawarimi'd with an old man, that'd he'd remembered being particularly mean to him. This put him just ahead of lee, who roared as he started taking back ground, screams of the old man and an angry fish sales man filling the air.

Lee suddenly screamed, "Right!" Naruto complied without thought and was shocked to see the ally way open up a few meters down, on one side, into another part of the open air market packed with people crowded around some street performers. Naruto grit his teeth and focused chakra to his feet as he jumped awkwardly to grip the wall. He struggled to keep his body lined up correctly to run, but maintained his focus on his chakra.

A scream of "Youth!" and a shadow flashing across his face brought Naruto's attention to Lee, one leg stretched out, flying over everyone. 'Wow' Naruto thought and his foot suddenly blasted him off the wall. He hit the ground rolling just outside of the crowd, popping up into a run. He caught up to Lee, whom darted into the forest. They sped around trees and over bushes until they burst into a training ground and skidding to a stop. Naruto eyes widened, 'eye brows' and couldn't help but look back at Lee who was gripping his knees breathing heavily.

A great booming voice startled Naruto, "Yosh, another genin comes along to fan Lee's flames of youth. You can call me Guy Sensei, what's your name son?" Naruto gulped and replied, "Uzumaki Naruto", belatedly remembering to bow to his obvious superior.

"You must have pushed Lee to make him winded after only 10 Laps around the village. Nothing like a good sprint at the end of a run to tighten your muscles back to life. Maybe you'd like to partake in a friendly spar?" Guy spoke with a volume much too loud for normal conversation.

"I'm sorry Guy sensei, I'm only a clone." And realizing a race against a clone might not be strictly fair added, "I saw Lee, uh… fanning his flames of youth and I couldn't help but join him. I'm supposed to be.. uh… getting some training equipment."

'Stupid, you're not supposed to be telling people about your jutsu or training. I hope he buys the training equipment line.' Naruto thought angrily

"Marvelous! No need to be sorry, for getting caught up in the flames of youth. What equipment were you seeking?" Guy replied with a huge smile.

"Uh, I wasn't quite sure. Something to help increase strength and speed?"

"Perfect, Lee was just breaking in his new weights, so you can take his old set, as long as I see you again some time to share your passionate youth."

Guy took some heavy looking weights out of a bag and handed the bag to Naruto. "This should do nicely. Take this and come see me when they become light again. There is also a book on weight training inside." Guy finished striking his famous nice guy pose, teeth gleaming.

Naruto took the bag and struck his own pose, with his thumb extended. 'Wow, no one but Jiji, and Old man Teuchi has ever been this nice to me.' Naruto smiled wide as possible trying to hold back to tears of joy, punching the air screaming, "Youth!", before sluggishly running back to his apartment, half dragging the bag of weights.

"Thanks Guy Sensei!"

 **Original - Hours later**

The sun was beginning to set and Naruto was running, his wet shirt thrown to the side long ago. The pace more like a trudge. He was struggling, breathing heavy, 'never give up, never give up, never give up.' He started feeling lighter, like his feet were barely touching the ground and then the world began to tilt. He flexed his arms to raise them but they remained motionless by his sides as he met the ground. Grains of dirt ground into his face, 'I can't move'. His head band turned into a clone and made to pick him up before thinking better of it and making another shadow clone to help. Naruto closed his eyes and let the sweet embrace of sleep take him.

He dreamed about a cute brunette and her laughter when he showed up to the library with a wheel barrel. A couple hours later he was the one the one who got to laugh at her shocked face when he returned the books. The old man seemed almost pleased to see him, though didn't appreciate his trying to stuff one hundred clones into his shop. He awoke to searing pain in his brain as hot, burning chakra filled his skull. Sweat felt like it was boiling off his forehead.

 **Shadow**

Then he was walking out of his apartment again, and to a field. He made a hundred clones and practiced running up a tree.

 **Original**

He did this over and over, until he stopped, tears in his eyes, head throbbing with the same burning sensation. There was no playful conversation to break up the training and the sheer amount of memories was more than ever.

"No more!" He screamed rolling off of his bed in horror. Trapped living the same few hours of tree climbing hundreds of times. When the original shadow had reached out for more chakra while he was running he was happy that he was able to send another clone to transfer it, thinking of how much work would get done. Now he was regretting it with each pulse of pain that surged into his mind between lives. Some part of him was aware of the many lives he lived, the silent watcher agonizingly watching the same movie, like some sick torture.

 **Shadow**

It was mid –morning and he was sitting atop a house in the Uchiha complex, waiting for Sasuke to exit his house, in his green haired persona. He made 50 clones and hid them around the area. Sasuke came out his house locking the door before he was kicked into street. He tumbled a few feet before pulling up to his knees, grabbing his side.

"What the fuck was that?" He spat staring at the green haired ninja.

"A ninja must always be prepared for battle and aware of his situation. A saying from the Shodai in the first great ninja war. Enemy Ninja had been attacking bases with guerrilla tactics, and it was then ingrained in the minds of our forces that ninja were never safe." Naruto said sagely, arms crossed, a few meters away from Sasuke's immediate reach.

Sasuke shoot forward flinging a kunai ahead of him and ducking under a kick from another shadow. Naruto barely dodged the kunai, leaned back away from the rising uppercut from Sasuke, and took a back heel kick to the chest. After delivering the kick Sasuke moved forward under a wide right hook from the second shadow, letting his foot whip over his back to land a scorpion kick to the shadow's face. His foot was then swept under him and he rolled away from a dropping axe kick. He popped up and began back peddling away from three shadows attempting to coordinate an assault on him. He suddenly stopped and lunged a knee into the face of the center shadow and threw a hand full of shuriken from each hand at the two aside it. Both were struck and a smirk spread across Sasuke's face before another shadow came through the smoke to punch him in the face. A round house kick was the follow up, though Sasuke had recovered enough to catch the kick and break the supporting leg of the shadow, with a front kick into its knee cap. Sasuke jumped back away from the cloud to see two legs kick out through it.

Sasuke threw a shuriken out at the right one that dodged into the other. Sasuke pulled back on the wire still attached and it whipped around the shadows necks and continued round their bodies, too shocked to react before they were tied together. Sasuke charged forward and rewarded them each with knees to the face. He jumped back away from the smoke and his back met the foot of another shadow. He hit the ground and rolled away to get kicked in the face by a second attacker. He twisted around and kicked the feet out from under the shadow and back - fisted it in the face. 'At least he's holding back on the strength of his hits today, but he's still an asshole, always hiding behind that jutsu.' Sasuke thought, as he blocked another kick before he could get to his feet. Spotting two more shadows running in from around a building, he lobbed a handful of dirt into the eyes of the shadow still attempting to kick him.

"Nice! Now you're thinking like a ninja Uchiha!" came from the green haired boy sitting on a tree a few yards away.

'That must be him' Sasuke thought as he sprinted toward the tree. A few steps away a wire tripped and he was sent into the air by a rope around his ankle.

He saw the Ninja just out of reach scowling at him, "that was too easy Sasuke." Said the boy, before throwing a kunai to cut him free and vanishing in a puff of smoke. Sasuke righted himself to land on his feet, eyes darting around to find nothing. He walked cautiously for few minutes before visibly relaxing to head to the training ground. 'Kind of disappointed' he thought as he made his way to the training grounds. Walking past a tree he was suddenly punched in the stomach and thrown to the ground. Sasuke rolled and popped up to feet to see three shadows closing on him.

Naruto peppered Sasuke with traps and sets of three shadows all the way until Sasuke finally made it to his front door. A shadow appeared and bowed, "thanks for-"and was cut off with another shuriken. "Fuck you asshole! I don't even know your name!" Sasuke shouted into the cooling evening air.

 **Shadow**

Naruto sat in a field peppered with mirror images of himself all floating leaves. He could see all of them and hear their individual thoughts, like speech so slow it was just a low rumbling. He couldn't feel his body and didn't know what was going on. "Where am I?" seemed to come from all of the shadows. And that is what they were. Shadows of himself cast from somewhere, but every time he looked for himself, reach out with a hand, some of them would reach out a hand not occupied by their focus or look about in confusion.

He sat, or stood, was somehow there for time he couldn't determine. All he had was his thoughts and time seemed to be standing still, not for the first time a bird had come by swimming sluggishly through the sky. When he'd attempted to look more closely at the bird, he felt the mind of his shadows shifting to the bird and the details started to emerge and the bird seemed to enlarge and take up his mind with crisp focus. Belatedly he felt his shadows focus wean, their tasks falter and a wave of anger welled up inside him. He reached out for the bird to destroy it for disturbing his shadows and soon a shadow was lunging into the air at the bird. He couldn't smile, but he felt the satisfaction as the shadows hand closed around the bird's body and began to squeeze. Everything was happening so slowly. The feathers ruffling under his hand. The hot furry burning inside him as the life was about to be squeezed out of the bird. The rage – full – glee knowing its death would soon come. It worthless life snuffed out like an infidel candle piercing his calm darkness. And he stopped, the clone slowly floating towards the ground, the grip reversing its judgement to free the bird. 'I don't kill', he thought. A rolling wave of something stirring within him.

"Weapons kill" rumbled in his mind.

"True, the enemy, and I see none." He replied, watching the bird furiously flap it's wings to escape the loose hand of the shadow.

Days and weeks seemed to pass as he sat in silence, contemplating his role, his purpose.

"What am I?"

"A weapon." Would rumble at his question.

"A weapon or shield to protect those I love?"

"Destroy." Would thunder.

"Everyone? They didn't know what they were doing. They were afraid."

"Revenge." Would shake the ground.

"Maybe" –


	3. Chapter 3

**Day three**

Naruto came into consciousness and laid there. Slowly, his hand came up to feel his face.

'Was that a dream? Some artifact from the shadow clone training?'

He pulled the chakra in his body to a same feeling as when he made cross shaped hand sign and thought, 'Kage bushin no justu.'

A shadow with the Fox mask appeared and left out the window and another went off to tend to his chores.

Naruto sat at the table flipping a pencil in his hand staring at the blank page of his journal.

'Large groups of clones may give the user another perspective…command. No, just a dream.'

He slammed the book shut and pushed it away to stare out of the window, before a bowl of cereal slid in front of him.

"Eat", the shadow said commandingly. "You're in the only body we have. I'll take care of the ninja registration and the rest of the house work, and you go do the strength exercises and running."

"No. I'll do the registration and then the exercises. I want to see jiji." Naruto said between bites.

"What's the difference? You'll see him tonight when I return to you." Said the shadow cleaning the dishes.

"No, it's not the same. I'm not truly in control, it's an illusion. I'm not going to be arguing with myself tonight. At first I thought it was me making the decisions and moving but I realized it's not the same. I'm really a passenger. Why are you even arguing with me?" Naruto finished with a skeptical look on his face.

"Mahhh, don't start being paranoid, I'm just doing what I was supposed to do. Take care of everything so you can train our body."

"Well while you're at it, see if there is some way to stop your memories from coming back to me, at least the ones that aren't important. I'll be the one to see Jiji." Naruto said after drinking the rest of his milk from the bowl.

Minutes later he was standing in front of the Hokage delivering his ninja registration with a low bow.

"Hokage – sama"

Iruka sat looking at Naruto with a strange face, but before he could speak the hokage cut him off.

"Iruka, if you could give us a moment." And the hokage gave a small signal.

Naruto felt presences, he didn't realize where there, vanish, as Iruka left the room with a parting pat on the shoulder.

When the door shut Naruto closed his eyes tightly, 'where do I start, what do I tell him?'

After a beat the Hokage spoke, "How long has it been?"

Naruto's eyes flew open widely and tears came unbidden, "I don't know." His voice breaking he continued, "I make five in the morning, one to read and take lessons at the "Art of brush", one to spar with, uh Uchiha Sasuke, and the other three work on different chakra control exercises, kinda. Each of those make around 100 clones for the day, give or take."

The Hokage held his breath for a moment, showing no outward sign of his shock, 'That's at least a year a day.'

"How are you coping?"

"It's difficult to deal with, when all the memories come in. Days straight of training over and over, without stop starts to feel like…"

"Torture." The Hokage supplied. "Your healing ability isn't the only reason I thought you'd be the first to master this justu. Your indomitable attitude and sheer force of will was why I put my faith in you Naruto. That being said, have your shadows do something enjoyable at the end of their training so that you can have some time off between memories."

Naruto stood shocked before jumping at the Hokage embracing him in a hug. "Thank you Jiji." Came a low trembling voice. Naruto stayed there for a moment, reveling in the one form of human contact he was afforded, 'I love you Jiji.'

Then he pulled back suddenly, "But, what should I do?"

The Hokage threw back his head and laughed a deep belly laugh, "That's for you to decide Naruto. I'm proud of you. You've devoted a great deal of time to studies and you knew to come to me when you needed advice. A mark of a strong person is knowing when they need help."

Naruto smiled rubbing the back of his head, "Thanks jiji."

"Iruka." He called, and the presences Naruto had felt earlier reappeared, as the door opened.

"Hokage – sama", Iruka called wearily, stepping into the doorway.

"Please take Naruto to get some proper Ninja clothing and out for some ramen, on me." The hokage replied with a smile.

"Naruto looked down at his clothes, remembering a passage from a book describing the proper shinobi attire, then looked to the Hokage and bowed, "Thank you Hokage – sama."

He whispered, "Kage bushin", and another shadow appeared in a fox mask and black shinobi garb. It bowed to the Hokage, then nodded to the original, before taking off out of the window.

An hour later found Naruto sitting at Ichiraku ramen. He was wearing Black pants, taped at the bottom, and a dark blue vest over a mesh under shirt. His arm guards rested on the counter as he devoured his fifth bowl in silence. Iruka had been surprised when he'd picked out the outfit, without defending his beloved orange jump suit. Naruto had simply dumped it in the garbage, out back, before they made their way to ramen stand. Naruto had been quiet and polite the entire time, and he was starting to wonder what was happening to his favorite student.

"I've been training with that Justu and that's all I can say Iruka – sensei. That, and I'm getting stronger." Naruto said putting his bowl down and giving a nod and a grin to Teuchi.

Naruto turned to Iruka and gazed at him. 'How long will it be before I see him again? I shouldn't worry him.'

"Iruka – sensei, I have four more days to become a true shinobi. I'm reading, exercising, working hard on my chakra control, and bringing myself into the correct mind set of a ninja. My old self just wasn't quite cut out to be a shinobi and I'm fixing that now." Naruto finished turning his hard gaze into a wide smile. "Believe it."

Soon Naruto was running along the perimeter of the village, sweat sliding off of his brow. "Never give up, never give up, never give up." A shadow clone appeared ahead and he slowed down to a stop. "I need more charka to work on the Shunshin."

Naruto plopped on the ground, panting slightly, "Did you work on our carving?"

"Yes, and while it was refreshing, we'll have to spent more time to make up for those hours." The shadow replied.

"Well, I already gave some to… uh, another shadow. I'm not sure if it's safe to give out much more." Naruto said, laying back on the ground. "Who's working on the seal – less kawarimi?"

"It's done. Now we're moving on the Shunshin seal – less."

"Wow. Well, let me try to put some more out." Naurto said, sitting up into a cross legged position.

He felt for his charka, 'Seems low, but I don't really need chakra to run right? There was a mention of chakra exhaustion in one of those books but I've never experienced it. Maybe it's another bonus of having the Fox stuck inside me. Maybe I can tap into its power, like a never ending battery. It's got to have a huge amount of chakra.' He thought excitedly.

He looked up at the shadow with a devilish smirk, "You ready?"

The fox masked ninja paused for a moment, then nodded, spreading his feet apart, as if to brace himself.

Naruto closed his eyes and was immediately able to feel the connection between him and his clone. He reached deep thinking about the fox and pulled as hard as he could on his chakra. Deep inside him he felt the churning, liquid fire, agitate.

He was then sitting in water and the sensation was gone. He looked around to see a tunnel. Pipes heading in every direction around him, some glowing a faint cool blue, while a few seemed mixed with a red, to give off a turbulent purple.

A rumble sounded in the distance and he looked down the corridor. 'This must be some type of interface with my seal. Did I break something? Maybe I have to ask the Fox to use his chakra.'

He took a few steps and thinking about where the Fox might be and suddenly he was walking into a large space. The room seemed as large as half of Konoha, with a seemingly no ceiling. Huge cast iron bars stretched up into the darkness in the distance.

'There.' He thought

He began walking to cover the distance, feeling a sense of timelessness, like when he was watching his shadows. Soon he was standing in front of the gates, a paper strip with the kanji seal on it in place of a lock.

'Seems…what's the word? Ahh yes, inadequate.'

He could feel an immense presence in front of him. An ocean of power, more vast than he could associate with anything he knew. An eye, as large as a house slid open. A deep red iris with a slit pupil gazed into him.

A low rumble vibrated the air, "Why are you here?"

"I need your chakra." He spoke after a moment.

The eye closed and the rustling of something massive could be heard. A foxes head as large as one of the heads on the mountain turned into the light. Both eyes bore into him. He wanted to run, everything told him to run. His death was near. He was nothing, an insect awaiting the hand to fall. The hot breath pushed him back, feet sliding along the floor, his eyes squinting through the gale. His heart pounded in his chest.

'never give up, never give up, never give up.' Started chanting in his mind. He could feel his shadow still connected to him faintly, and it fortified his resolve. He tightened his fist by his side and held firm, encircled by a tangible hate, a desire for his own death, the intent to wipe him from existence like thick syrup surrounding him. He tried breathing it, blinking it away from his eyes.

'Never give up, never give up, never give up.' After a time the pressure eased up and he slowly drew breathe he'd not known had been caught in his throat.

A low guttural growl smoothed into a deep voice, "And what do you offer, mortal."

This was it, his chance to bargain with the demon. 'What can I give an immortal chakra demon, imprisoned inside me?'

He closed his eyes to think, and the silence stretched on. The evil presence and feeling of death had vanished and the Fox sat silently, save for its hot breath. A constant reminder if the pending question.

"What happens to you when I die?" He asked quietly

"I go free." Came the low silky voice of the demon in a slowly articulated fashion.

'He's lying.'

After what felt like hours, "Freedom… of a sort."

Kyuubi's eyes narrowed, but remained silent.

"I could transfer some of your consciousness into a shadow clone, and you'd be able to walk freely, as long as you didn't cause trouble." Naruto continued.

The demon smiled slyly and the rumbling voice vibrated Naruto's body with the same excitement the voice carried, "Do it."

Suddenly sitting back in the clearing next to the wall, Naruto's chakra coils ached with pressure and hot fire. The Shadow was already backing away, knees trembling with fear.

'Now?' He thought as his body felt like fire, painfully frozen in dance, waiting to burst free and whip out its heat.

'Kage bushin no-', he stopped, gritting his teeth from the rising hatred that swelled in his heart.

He looked at his shadow, now on the ground crawling away backwards, ass dragging under him.

"You, help. Make as many clones as possible as I give you chakra, but keep the fox's chakra separate from your own." Naruto cursed the mask that hid the shadows face from him, until the shadow stood and formed the hand seal. Naruto let slip a fraction of the chakra, the connection becoming a visible beam of energy, bright as the sun, and thin as thread.

A few hundred shadows appeared, the original shadow spreading his feet, crouching and attempting to form the perfect stance for the jutsu.

Another beam, a muffled grunt from the shadow, and a few hundred more shadows appeared.

Naruto felt for a piece of the fox, for its essence beyond the chakra and thought, 'Kage Kyuubi.'

A final beam and the shadow clone screamed between clenched teeth, "Taju…. Kage….bushin… no…..Justu!"

Shadows filled the clearing in every direction.

Silence reigned for a moment, before the sound of a body hitting the ground echoed throughout the area.

 **Shadow**

The day had been going well. He'd made around 100 clones in a nice training ground he'd been using and meditated on them. He could feel them and their focus on the Kawarimi. The jutsu, like brief flashes of light in a sea of simmering darkness. As they continued he began to hear the whispers. So faint, at first, he thought it might be his imagination, but after several hours, he could truly hear it. Excitement washed them into static and frustration whited out his sense of them altogether.

'Shit.' He thought.

He tried again, with a deep breath to blow out his frustration. After a moment his shoulder was tapped and his anger boiled over. He jumped up lashing out with an upper cut. The memory from training had come back to him and he suddenly felt hot shame on his neck, and turned away as if to avoid his failure. The shadows he'd created were almost out of chakra and wanted to get to work on carving, the hobby he'd settled on after receiving his updated orders. It seemed as though some of the shadows had managed to perform the jutsu without seals, so once the original had the combined memories he'd have the skill.

'Have to try again', he thought. He looked up to see some of them still staring at him, and he looked away.

"Carve until you expire. I'm going to get more chakra, and we can start working on trying the Shunshin." He said and began to walk away, to intercept the path of the original's chakra.

When he found the original, he was running slowly next to the wall surrounding the village. After partially explaining the reason for his request, for additional chakra, the original readied himself to pull out the charka.

"You ready", the original asked.

The shadow paused for a moment collecting his focus and widening his stance.

And then the feeling came like a tsunami of hatred spread over him. The original's presence became smothered in an over whelming surge of power. His knees began to buckle and he started stepping back away from it. They finally gave out and he continued his retreat, dragging his ass backwards away from the red mass of chakra. And then, He'd asked for help. The pleading look in his eyes froze him in his place

'My eyes', the shadow thought for a moment.

Nodding to the original, he got back to his feet. Then he was funneling the hot beam of chakra into clones, focusing on calm acceptance. Another beam was shot, though, with much more force, and he realized there was still more chakra to come. Quickly getting in his stance he focused everything he had into his jutsu. Then, like a snake, an oily presence passed through him. A darkness without end spilled out of him, into one of the clones in the distance, being formed.

'What had he done?'

And it was over. The original had fallen and an uncountable number of clones had been formed. The presence of the fox still hung faintly in air as an ANBU arrived on the wall, overlooking the area. The shadows started looking around and the tension began to spike.

"What are you looking at asshole?" Barked one of the shadows to the ANBU.

"Yeah, what… the fuck… are you looking at?" Another shadow yelled, emphasizing each phrase with a tilt to his head. The ANBU shifted readying a kunai and the damn broke. Shadows came up the wall like a black tide. The ANBU tossed a kunai into the surge and an explosion dispersed a large group of the attackers into a cloud of smoke. A sea of kunai appeared through the chakra smoke and the ANBU could sense the chakra signature of the shadow's shunshins in time to dash 50 meters along the wall, sending another kunai, explosion tag fluttering behind it. A moment after the kunai's release from his hand, a clone kawarimi'd with it, throwing a punch to his face. He ducked the punch and sent a quick jab to the clone's stomach, dispersing it. An explosion sounded off in the distance. He spun around and tripped the clone that had come from behind him, and punted him from the wall. Another quick jab, a jump over another attempting to tackle him and he was running down the wall.

'Requesting additional back up. An army of shadow clones have appeared by the north wall and I'm engaging.'

He back handed the clone that had rushed him, ducked under the kick another sent at him, to be horrified when the clone was replaced with one kicking up into his chin. He kicked it away into smoke and narrowly dodged several kunai, half of which turned into shadows launching their own kunai, point blank. He replaced himself with a clone creeping over the ledge of the wall and desperately back flipped way from the barrage of steel, clips of concrete pelting him in the face.

The hoard of shadows spilled over the ledge of the wall, cocking back to let lose another volley of kunai. This time, each of the clones was pelted with several with shuriken from a squad of five ANBU that had appeared from his flank.

The original shadow waded through the mass of clones, looking and feeling for the Kyuubi. A flash of red in his peripheral alerted him to a fox sneaking away from the battle. He jumped up to the building next to the alley the fox had traveled. He dashed to the edge of the building to be greeted with an empty street, fox nowhere to be seen.

"Stupid child. This is what happens when you do not trust me. Had you put all of my chakra into one clone, this would not have happened."

The shadow spun around to see the Fox sitting behind him, tail listlessly slapping the ground.

The shadow held his tongue, knowing that this was most likely true, though what the fox would do with all of that power would pale in comparison to an army of genin ninja. Several more explosions sounded in the distance and a glance around showed numerous ninja rushing to engage the enemy.

"Listen now child, and know that I will do nothing to risk this small freedom you've granted me. I will lend you a small fraction of my chakra, but you must mix it with your own before making clones. If this happens again we will both be prisoners and the first bit of freedom I've tasted in close to 100 years will be gone. Now leave me be, to enjoy my freedom for the time it lasts."

The fox made to leave, but paused at the shadow's words.

"Outside the village."

The fox turned to look at the boy with what could be a questioning look.

"If you are not with me, you need to be outside the village. And if I hear of any foxes mauling people or missing persons our deal is off."

The fox barked a laugh and made towards the wall. "As you wish, warden."

 **A/N:** _This might be pushing the bounds of good taste, but I'm not going to get too carried away. And, because I dislike when authors explain their story afterwards, I'm not going to do it. Unless you ask, then I'll probably PM you, because you are awesome (reading my story). Thanks for letting me entertain you, and for your outstanding feedback. I hope you enjoyed it._


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N;** _I wanted to finish day three as a separate chapter, before moving on to day four. I'd also like to remind you all that this story is rated M for a reason, and it's not because of "lemons"._

I don't own Naruto

 **Day three (continued)**

His clones were like chess pieces with a mind of their own. Switching places with each other at random, sometimes to land a hit and other times giving the ANBU a chance to recover from the onslaught. The momentum from the first squad on scene died away as their initial jutsu ate large gaps into a sea of snarling faces, only to be filled in with no visible change in number of clones. The overwhelming mass of bodies forced them to retreat along the wall, like an amoeba threatening to engulf them in it's blind hunger. Two more squads of five dashed in from the village along the mass's length. Four ANBU flashed through hand signs in unison, unleashing a massive Grand Fire Ball. Three more created massive hands of earth to push as many of them as possible, into the path of the combination justu.

Hundreds of the shadows henged into kunai and were launched high into the air. The explosion shook the area, blanketing it in a thick cloud of smoke. Shadows rained down around the ANBU, many dispersing as they hit the ground, flooding the air with ambient chakra. A shadow slammed his kunai deep into the shoulder of one ANBU, kinetic energy slamming him into the ground. His scream eerily crisp amongst the pitter patter of shadows slamming into the ground. The ANBU started breaking towards the outside of the cloud. Unassuming kunai laying on the ground, dispelled their henge to attack the ANBU as they fled. One shadow was able to drive a kunai deep into the thigh of cat masked woman. She screamed in pain, as she bisected the shadow with her katana and kept running. Her scream morphed into a battle cry, through gritted teeth, as blood squirted in gushing pumps with each step, only stopping as she collapsed out side the cloud. A Hyuga chunnin, byakugan flaring, yelled, "clear", as Ten ANBU finished hand signs. The ground began to shake violently, and a several geysers of water launched into the air, arching into a Dragon with a head the size of a small castle. It crashed into the ground, snaking around the field, blowing away the smoke with the force of his writhing body.

 **Asuma**

Asuma had been on his way to the Jonin counsel to hear about the new candidates for the ninja program. As much as academy scores had mattered in determining their initial standing, what they did in between their time graduating and the team assignment was a one of the best indicators, as to how they would perform for the rest of their ninja career. Most of the civilian children would play games and hang – out with friends, while most of the ninja children would do a little light practice. Some would really train, like the headband lit a fire inside them. Those were almost guaranteed to pass. Some jonin sensei, when presented with the rare treat, where all of their students were those types, didn't even bother to test them.

Asuma had looked into the new Ino – Shika – Cho formation before heading over to the meeting and none of them were training, save for Choji, though he was made to train by his father. He knew that this was going to be a sore spot for the clan leaders, as this disqualified them from being on a team. It was an unspoken rule that three unmotivated genin on a team was a recipe for disaster and, while the winning combination might save them from this end, they would never reach their full potential without someone being a motivational force, outside of their sensei.

It was as he approached the tower that he felt it. A small spike of the Kyuubi's presence in the distance. It wasn't anything close to the real thing but the feeling was the same. He rushed towards the area, popping into sporadic shunshins to eat away at the distance. His last shunshin brought him face to face with six squads of ANBU dispatching a few hundred shadow clones. A few were stationed along the perimeter to stop any of the clones from getting away, picking off the occasional runner. A clutch of kunai sailed passed him, popping into small fox masked shinobi. One jumped off another to head towards him, while the one who'd been jumped off of sprung off of the roof, and over the building's side. The other two sprinted in an arc to attack his side. He lazily side stepped the first clone, dispersing him with a chop to the side of his neck. The two coming from the side threw several kunai at him that he twisted past to engage them in taijutsu. His senses informed him of the incoming shunshin and he lashed out with a kick through both shadows to see one had gotten off a kawarimi with a large potted plant. He let the momentum of the kick carry him around and snatched a shadow coming out of shunshin and slammed him into the ground.

He had to quickly roll forward to avoid a swing from a shadow with a baseball bat.

'That one got pretty close, and where did he get the baseball bat?'

The shadow lunged forward swinging wildly, making weird grunting noises, and Asuma calmly back stepped out of his reach.

'This a joke?' He thought

The shadow tossed the bat at Asuma, who leaned out of the way, only to be caught with a kick to the face. Stunned that he'd been caught off guard, and angry to have been taking it so easy as to be caught by such a weak shinobi, he grabbed the offending limp to slam the shadow into the roof. Another potted plant laid on the roof before him and he grit his teeth. He looked up to see the shadow holding the bat again, and blasted him apart with a large air bullet.

'Punk, kid.'

He turned back to the hoard to see only 50, or so, clones being dispersed by ANBU, and decided to watch with a bit a glee as they tried to get away.

An hour later he was walking into the Jonin counsel to arrive just on time, only to join the rest of the Jonins in shocked horror. There, sitting with no book in sight, was the notorious Hatake Kakashi, a hard look in his eyes.

He froze, "Kakashi?"

To which the masked ninja only nodded curtly at him in response. Bewildered, he meandered to his seat, stealing glances at Kakashi, and rubbing his head. He looked over to see the Ino – Shika – Cho combination slumped in their seats, seemingly avoiding the glare from the largest of the three.

'No snacks either, they must be hating their children right now.' He thought.

The door opened, and the Hokage walked in followed by the ANBU Commander. Silence fell over the room, aside from the sliding of chairs, as everyone in the room stood and bowed. After the Hokage sat, everyone followed suit.

"I suspect you're all aware of what just occurred only moments ago. Uzumaki Naruto tapped into the Kyuubi's power while training, resulting in the creation of a couple thousand shadow clones. ANBU were able to deal them, sustaining two injuries to their numbers. This is currently information only available to the ANBU and Jonin, as they were the first responders to the event. Should any connection be made between Naruto and the event, the offender will be charged with treason. We all know that we've been lucky to go this long before something like this occurred while raising a jinchuriki. Further investigation will be done, as to the extent to which he can now tap into its power, though he will now be considered a tier one candidate."

The Hokage paused for a moment looking over the Jonin present.

"We will now begin team assignment drafts."

Kakashi stood up abruptly, "I, Hatake Kakashi, move to claim Uzumaki Naruto as my apprentice."

The Hokage narrowed his eyes at Kakashi, but did not speak. The entire room seemed to lean in and focus on the, normally, tardy and lackadaisical man. Whispers began rolling through the room.

A tap on the floor drew everyone's attention to an elderly looking bandaged man, who slowly rose.

"I Shimura Danzo, object to this claim. You should either be, taking a genin team with Uchiha Sasuke, or making him your apprentice. You are the only Konoha ninja who welds the sharingan, and are thus the only proper choice for his sensei."

Kakashi's lone eye buried into the old man and he leaned forward ever so slightly, "It is correct that I am the only welder, though I could always arrange for lessons outside of his normal team training. It is not essential that I be his sensei. Only his guide if he indeed awakens the sharingan."

Danzo glanced at the Hokage, who sat quietly packing his pipe.

A green spandex man with a bowl cut jumped up to his feet, fist raised, trembling before him, "Yosh, I, Mito Guy am moved by Kakashi's motivation the take the boy under his tutelage and endorse his youthful claim!"

Another Ninja, with a two scars along the side of his face and black hair held high in a ponytail, stood eyeing Kakashi closely as he spoke.

"I, Nara Shukaku, Jonin Commander and Nara clan head, endorse Hatake Kakashi's claim."

The Hokage looked over at the Yamanaka and Akimichi clan heads, whom nodded.

"Alright, the topic of Kakashi's pending apprenticeship will be placed on hold pending my decision and we will move forward with the team requests." Kakashi and the others sat down, and many of the Jonin pulled out paper and pencils.

"For those of you who are here for the first time and to remind some who have been away for a time, you will be given a chance to make a team of genin by picking from each of three groups or tiers. Because there are so few tier one candidates, you will need to make a second pick from the tier two pool. Once you've done so, you will need to write your reasons for this pick along with plans and projections for this team."

The Hokage motioned and the ANBU at the door ushered Iruka and a few other academy teachers into the room carrying stacks of folders.

"As you see, the Academy teachers are bringing in information regarding the future ninja of this village. Everything from their academic performance to what could be gleamed from the ANBU intelligence team's periodic assessments. You are this village's top shinobi and I expect better reasons, than because they will be awesome. For this draft, Naruto will be off of the table, and Kakashi… You and I will need to speak, after you submit a _proper_ team assignment request. Failure to do so will result in an automatic dismissal of your claim. No documentation can be taken out of this room and if you are not planning on taking a team then you are free to leave."

The Hokage rose, along with every other occupant, whom bowed as he left.

Original

Objectively, Naruto could say that the fight between his clones and the ANBU was awesome. He'd been watching the fight for what seemed like a day, and yet he wasn't feeling the normal torture he felt during training. It was possibly the single most educational couple day that he'd ever spent. The tactics that he'd thought of on the fly were amazing, and had he been truly thinking about what was going on he was sure he would not have been able to come up with a portion of what his shadows had tried. Some things even comical, since death held no real meaning for a shadow.

His spar with Sasuke had gone well and he'd even stayed to speak with the boy about their spar. Things they did well and things they didn't. Sasuke had seemed impressed that his taijutsu was already showing signs of improvement and Naruto had admitted that Sasuke was doing much better at handling multiple opponents. It was late on the afternoon when Sasuke asked about his team, and he'd thought for a moment about telling him the truth before disappearing in a puff of smoke.

His research into basic tools had been fruitful, but he was still unable to make sense of the complex drawings of anything he wanted to use. Even the locking mechanism for a grappling hook was beyond his ability to grasp, and his conclusion was that he'd actually have to see about getting help.

His lessons at the "Art of the Brush" were uneventful and the old man started expecting him to spent time coming to the shop, stating that he'd be his greatest pupil before the year was up. When he asked about getting a discount the old man had started yelling about "ungrateful brats" and that he was lucky that he was only begin charged for one person.

He was sure that his kawarimi and shunshin would be perfect and he was delighted to enjoy days goofing around atop a lake after he'd mastered the water walking exercise. The fun he'd have turning into a kunai, and having another one of his clones toss him into the air was awesome. HI attempts at a bird henge had been dismal but all the more funny to watch.

He'd awoken in the hospital, late at night, if the beeping of the heart monitor was any indication. The familiar feeling of the unseen presences around told him he'd face the consequences of his mistake in the morning. For now, he would rest and think of what he would say to the Hokage tomorrow. Sure he'd lightly wounded two ANBU, but they would be fine and he would not make the same mistake twice. Whatever mistake it was that he was going to tell the Hokage. He lay there listening to the beeping of the monitor and turned to stare at the dripping of the IV. At some point the drop began slowing and the beep of the monitor stretched out into a low bass before he was gone.

Naruto had known that deep inside himself there was darkness. Some part of him that was evil. He'd hoped that everyone held this small evil portion inside themselves and that it was normal, but not everyone would have the chance to randomly pick out portions of themselves to project into the world. Some portion with its own arms and legs to carry about, whatever gruesome business it had in mind.

 **Shadow**

Some clone towards the outer perimeter came into existence. He was mad, furious, and today was the day. With all the strength he possessed now, that man who be no match for him. That man who'd hurt him like no one had ever or will ever. He replayed the countless angry looks and hushed insults he'd received since he was born, but there had been very few who would actually attempt to lay hand on him. This man had been different.

The puppet crafter, and his little shop. He'd never told, and he never would. He quickly henged into a young boy, with black hair, dark brown eyes, and old worn clothes. He walked with calm simmering fury, into the town proper, on to the market place and into the little puppet shop. Puppets dangled all around. Some simple wooden ones lacking facial features or fingers, and some more elaborate Samurai and princesses in full garb and decorations around them. The old man sat behind the counter, whittling away at some half – finished puppet. He looked up at the chime of the bell, above the door, to see the boy enter the store. He slowly put aside the little wooden carving and greeted the boy with a smile and a wave.

"The price is on the left foot, and please, don't touch any of the puppets without asking for assistance."

Naruto closed his eyes and imagined one of the seals he'd been studying. Each brush stroke coming together in his mind to form the artful silencing seal, and the connection, that every seal needed, to its master. The simplest one requiring it be placed in an array around the entire room, with distance requirements depending on how much sound it would block.

He smiled a sinister grin at the old man and whispered, "Taju… Kage"

, seals appearing all over the shop's walls.

The old man's eyes widened and he began to hobble towards the back door.

'Kage bushin no justu' he thought a moment later, and four shadows appeared around the man, all wearing black shinobi garb and demonic fox masks. They pulled the man up and onto the counter, each holding down a limb, while he struggled and screamed for help. Naruto jumped up and landed, knees first on the man's chest, returning to his normal face, but with red slit eyes and blood red hair.

The young boy gazed into the man's eyes and he started screaming louder, "Please, someone! The demon has come to kill me! Help!"

Naruto reached out with his felt hand and, belatedly wishing he'd read some books on torture, firmly grabbed the man's jaw. He held the man's face steady for a moment, letting the hate boil over and begin to harden, as he closed his right first.

He punched the man's nose, not very hard, but enough to cause great pain. His screams became angry and his struggling increased futilely. And, he punched again, and again, and again, finally the cartilage in his nose buckling with a moist crunch. The man's screams started to become desperate as blood oozed back across his cheeks. Naruto smiled wider, blood spattering across his face, as the man started shaking his head, in hopes to avoid further punishment, pleading with Naruto to stop. This, he did not.

He hit him over and over, laughing at the gurgling cries until the check bones began to crack, and his front teeth had, long since, fallen into his mouth. The struggles had ended and Naruto fetched the carving knife. He cut out the man's tongue and retrieved the one tooth he'd failed to make the man swallow, and left the store. The shop bursting into flames as a small fox scurried away.

 **Original**

Naruto came from the memory still screaming and crying the silent pleas he'd been struggling to make through the horror he'd lived. The true consequence of his failure. The nurses rushed in and he thrashed at the sight of them, "No, stay away. I'm a monster!" His last memory a bird like mask appearing from the shadows with a senbon in hand, before the pinch, and darkness took him.

 **A/N;** _I hope I can keep up this pace, but don't be surprised if I start to slow down as we get into the meat of the story. Thanks goes out to the two other brave souls to review my story, "plums", and "name the missing", you guys are awesome. Also, netesy1, is two for three. My biggest fan! I feel a heart jutsu coming on._


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N;** _I just received my first flame and I'd like to send a very special thanks to… Guest? Terrible, not even a person I can thank. Besides, Inoobe, who made my day with their kind words and rgentile101, who is obviously new to Naruto fan fiction. Let's welcome him aboard, because he's obviously got good taste!_

 ***Roaring cheers***

 **Day four**

Just after midnight a burning shop in the middle of the marketplace drew the first response team to put out the fire. After some time, a huge crowd had gathered around the burning shop. Parents along with the crying children they held, and young adults were stricken with grief, at the knowledge of the kindly old puppet maker's death. They stood transfixed as the fire was finally smothered with another water jutsu.

The military police was there to keep the area clear, with bright orange rope tied to wooden stands. There, off to the side, stood an older teen girl in a black jacket and fatigue pants. Three dogs sat around her sniffing the air and eyeing the people around them while they waited for okay to go in.

After another 15 minutes, "Looks like it was a low level fire jutsu", came from inside the half standing building. Inuzuka Hana grimaced at his lack of secrecy.

Murmurs flew like wild fire, carrying the news to those too far to hear the idiot's flapping jaw.

Hana walked through the doorway, chard wood crumbling beneath her, feet. A wave of her hand to quell the whining of her dogs as she retreated into the mound of hot, wet, charcoal. The brunt corpse had to be next to him, the smell of it, like a bright beacon.

"A little discretion next time, idiot", she said softly. A man with a white jumpsuit, goggles and a white cap, looked a bit abashed as he smiled weakly, "Sorry about that detective san." Coming around a burnt counter top, her eyes fell upon the husk of a man. The cheek bones were deeply cracked, and the nose was bashed in, taking most of the top front teeth with it.

"Brutal", she spoke in disgusted awe. Her dogs began to whine long before the crunching alerted her to another person joining them. "Ahh, Hyuga sama", the forensics investigator in the goggles said and a man came to kneel next to the body, eyes bulging from his heritage.

"I apologize for my tardiness."

"Save it. Looks like the murderer really hated this guy." She spoke without averting her eyes from the partly crushed skull of the man.

"They did a good job covering their tracks by burning the place, but there are faint chakra imprints all along the walls. I'm guessing no one heard or saw anything?" The man spoke.

She turned to see him holding his white robes above the black remnants of the shop. His long dark brown hair hid one of his eyes as he gazed at the body, eye returned to their normal state. "How'd you know Yonji?"

"The lingering chakra could have been from seals. This, along with the vicious way the man met his end would indicate premeditated murder."

At her questioning gaze Yonji continued, "They would have had to sneak in when the owner was out to put up these seals. And, it would have taken quite a while for them to do so, given the amount of lingering chakra on the walls that are still intact."

"Wow, I guess you'll be the one to write up the report again. Though one thing bothers me and my pups above all." Hanna said looking around to her dogs.

"And that would be?" Yonji said, looking around for anything he might have missed.

"No scent. At all. Not even a cover up scent."

The bark of dog brought a smile to her face and she clasped the shoulder of her partner, "Spoke too soon, got a scent trail of the old man's blood, too fresh to be him."

 **Later**

After the fall of the Uchiha clan, the Inuzuka and Hyuga clans had stepped in to keep the military police running. Inuzuka Yoma, jonin and lead detective, was now staring at the details regarding a murder that made his ass chap. Not to have a scent was a huge blow to their perfect record. The scent of the dead man's blood, away from the scene of the crime, had accompanied the tracks of a small animal, but the foot prints didn't quite match anything. And then it just ended, with a tongue and a tooth buried a foot down. No foot prints or scent coming from that location. He'd even pulled in a favor from a hunter ninja to take a look at it, and he said there was nothing. Like they'd just vanished.

He leaned back into his chair with a sigh, "The one lead we had on this and poof, gone."

He paused eyes growing wider. "Poof."

 **Original**

Naruto woke up with the sun on his face. He shot up but was halted inches away from the bed. He looked down to see that his wrists and ankles were strapped to the bed. He flex his chakra for the Kage bushin no jutsu, but paused.

'Should I really be making them anymore? What if I lose focus again and make another killer?'

The bloody face of the man he'd killed flashed before his eyes, and he shut them fiercely. Tears began to roll down his cheeks.

'I have to tell Jiji, tell him everything. I'm a murderer. I can't be trusted with this jutsu anymore.'

Suddenly, a tugging sensation later, he was standing in front of the Iron bars of the seal.

"Don't you dare!" roared throughout the cavern.

Naruto took a step back, fear gripping him as the air turned malicious.

"When you get worked up I have to hear your pathetic dribbles. And the last thing I want to hear is that you're going to get us locked away in a dungeon with your chakra cut off!" The rumbling voice rising in intensity until the bars started to shake.

"What?" Naruto squeaked out timidly.

"If you tell the third about our deal, much less about the man you killed, he'll have you locked away and your chakra sealed. You made one mistake, and a particularly miserable human died", the Kyuubi said bringing his tone down.

"I thought you never gave up? Was all that garbage? You mean to tell me that the one human I was beginning to hate just a little less, is full of shit?" He said with the side of his face pushed up against the bars to look closely at the boy.

"I… I just…" Naruto tried to speak, but was unable to think of anything to defend himself.

"If you give up now, you'll never be anything, but the demon incarnate this village locked away. Prove you're not some punk kid. Keep your mouth shut and don't fuck this up."

Naruto returned, tears still coming down from his face. He looked at the restraints on his wrists.

'He's right. If I tell them about the Kyuubi, or the man…'

He took a deep ragged breath to calm himself, and said, "Kage bushin."

A shadow in a fox mask appeared, and was instantly cut down with a tanto, welded by an ANBU who'd appeared from thin air.

The owl masked ANBU stood staring its empty eyes at him, "I must ask that you reframe from using any chakra techniques. The Hokage should be here soon, and he will make the decision to release you from this hospital. Until then, you are to remain still."

The man's voice was crisp and professional, punctuated with the click of his sword's return to its sheath.

Naruto stared at him for a moment before looking away. "I understand."

He laid there for hours, waiting for the Hokage to show up. Hours, staring at the ceiling, or anything other than the masked man, now sitting in the corner facing him. He was like a statue, with his eye holes pointed directly at him.

'Creepy bastard.'

Finally the door opened to reveal the Hokage, followed by Yamanaka Inoichi. The Hokage's face was somber and he seemed heavier than normal, like the robes weighed him down. Inoichi stood by the door after closing it, crossing his arms and leaning back against it.

"Hokage Sama." Naruto spoke in unison with the ANBU, cracking the silence in the room.

"Owl, you can undo the restraints. I'm sorry we had to do that Naruto, but you'd woken up last night thrashing around, saying you were a monster." Hokage said, face held lose with what looked to be regret. The ANBU unlocked the restraints and Naruto sat up, rubbing his wrists before scooting back to lean against the head board.

"Bad dream." He said, averting his eyes from the gaze of the Hokage.

"Naruto, we need to know what happened", said the Hokage.

Naruto's heart began to thump so loudly in his chest he thought everyone on the room would hear it.

"I was running laps around the village, when one of my clones came to request more chakra for training. I wasn't sure I'd have enough to give, then I thought about the Kyuubi. I figured I might be able to take some of its power. I reached in and was able to pull some out, but I received much more than I could handle. I started losing control, and so I made as many clones as I could. I figured if I diluted the power enough, my clones would be able to retain control, or be weak enough to be taken out easily." Naruto delivered the prepared line, without making eye contact with the Hokage, feeling as though he'd break the moment he saw the old man's face.

"I'm sorry, Hokage sama. I was careless. I won't make the same mistake again."

Silence held the room in its grip, until the Hokage spoke a few seconds later.

"I believe that it was an accident, but there are still some consequences and precautions we must now take because of this. You are here by placed on probation, and will have all of your training supervised by someone who will be able to restrain the Kyuubi's chakra, should you lose control again. This here is Yamato", the Hokage said gesturing the ANBU.

The Ninja moved his mask, strange head gear framing a truly unremarkable face, and walked forward to stand beside the Hokage.

'His eyes are still creepy', Naruto thought.

"He will be watching over you until we are confident this won't happen again. He'll go over the restrictions that go along with probation, and you will be moving into his house. Please be careful Naruto." The Hokage finished and left the room.

Naruto was speechless. He was a step way from being thrown in prison.

'The fox was right. They would have locked me up.'

"Shit."

A couple minutes later Naruto was walking to his house, Yamato silently trailing behind him. He glanced at the man to see the same stony face and creepy eyes, darting about every so often.

"Would you at least walk with me? You look like escorting a prisoner." Naruto whispered over his shoulder, only to receive no response.

When they reached his house, his patience was about to boil over. He unlocked the door and went to step inside. "Wait here, I'll be right back after I get my stuff." Naruto turned to close the door and Yamato stopped the door and pushed past him.

"Hey, what don't you understand about 'wait here?" Naruto asked, voice leaking out the anger and frustration he felt.

Yamato continued as if he hadn't heard the boy, grabbed a chair and sat against the wall.

Naruto sighed in resignation and went to grab his sealing supplies. Several clones appeared in his wake and they kneeled around the room. Naruto tossed supplies to each of them and they began to draw seals. He moved to his bedroom and closed the door. He dropped down to his knees and moved his bed. There, under several loose floor boards was his chest, which he pulled up and dragged to just outside the door. He stopped to put the boards back and pulled his bed into place. When he turned back to the chest he noted that the door was open and the chair Yamato was sitting in was, now, sitting outside his door.

"What if I was getting undressed?" Naruto said gesturing to his clothes.

Yamato's blank face did budge. "I didn't know you could make seals."

Naruto replied pulling the chest into the living room, "Yeah, I'm learning."

"What seals do you know?" Yamato inquired innocently.

"The storage seal is the only one I can do, but I'm working towards more." Naruto replied without a beat. 'Oh shit, they must suspect that I was the one to kill the old man. No worries, just play it cool. They can't prove it was me.'

"I see." Yamato said eyes watching the boy closely.

Finally the chest and everything else he could take with him was packed, and they were leaving. One large scroll hung horizontally across Naruto's back. They walked out of the village proper, granting them with a beautiful view of the setting sun, and continued into a forest.

"You live out here?" Naruto questioned, eyebrow raised.

"I do now." Yamato said, with a slight bit of wariness in his voice.

Naruto looked down thoughtful for a moment, "Sorry."

A few miles into the forest, they came upon a large clearing. In the center stood a large pond and off to the side was a house. The wood house looked small in the distance, though as they moved towards it, the length of the house extending out from the back could be seen. Yamato touched the door and it opened, to reveal a room larger than his entire apartment.

Naruto walked in and felt a deep sense of calm settle over him. 'Genjustu?' He wondered. He subtly put his hands together and pulsed his chakra, yet there was no change. Then, for the first time, he noticed there were no windows, or furniture, and the entire house looked like it was carved from one piece of smooth wood. He looked to Yamato, and made to voice his questions about the house, but Yamato put a hand up to forestall the questions he know were coming.

A hand sign and two chairs grew from the floor along the wall, partly facing each other.

"Mokuton." Naruto whisper in awe.

"Yes, now have a seat," said Yamato, as he walked over to sit down.

Naruto leaned his scroll onto the wall and took a seat across from the man.

Yamato took a deep breath and spoke.

"I have the Mokuton bloodline, which is a little known fact, since I'm normally out of sight. I made this house with my jutsu and you probably feel different here. The First's techniques were said to be able to quell the beasts, and I suspect that your prisoner's chakra, which is constantly being mixed with your own, is silent. We will leave and return with the sun to this house. You will practice harnessing the kyuubi's chakra in the morning, with me to act as a safety net in case you lose control. Then, you will be free to go about your business as long as I know what you're doing, and when and where you're doing it. If I come to where you are supposed to be and you are not there, or you fail to return home before the sun sets, you will be in violation of parole. At that time you will be hunted down and brought before the counsel for judgment. Also, if you use the Kyuubi's chakra at any time, other than when in my presence, you will face a minimum of one year in shinobi prison. Do you understand?"

Naruto sat feeling the gravity of this situation and a rock growing in his stomach. "Yes."

"Good, now your room is at the end of the hall and the bathroom is accessible from your room. I hope we can both make the most of this situation."

He finished with a weak looking smile, before patting the boy's shoulder and making his way down the hall. Naruto looked around the place a bit before grabbing his bag and heading to his room.

'One step away from prison.'

Inazuka Hana was furiously pacing around her room. She'd just dropped off the notes and samples from her case to the ANBU service outlet, and returned home to fume. While it was normal to hand over cases where a ninja was thought to be involved, they were usually given a few days to try and crack the case first. The Inazuka nose had proven to be an invaluable tool for solving crimes and she prided herself in knowing she always got her man.

"Whoever had killed that old man was a sick freak, and once they get a taste of blood they always want more. When they strike again, we'll find that son of a bitch. No one gets away from Inazuka Hana and her girls."

A few barks punctuated her impromptu speech and she turned to smile at her companions. She laid down and thought about the facts of the case, unable to sleep.

'If there were seals, I should have been able to pick up some trace of the bastard's blood somewhere. Maybe our guy has a way to lay seals quickly, or without using blood. That's the only thing that stands out and it's bound to come up again.'

Mollified that she'd at least thought of some direction to follow up on, she finally gave into sleep.

 **A/N;** _A bit short, but I like to break on days if I can. Thank you for reading, and I hope you enjoyed._


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N;** _Yes! I finally finished! A little short, but pertinent. Actually, I finished the other day, but wanted to sit on this one until I was certain of my decision. You can thank Plums, Mafia king, Nuk destruction, and Oldmastersaru, for making me think a little bit more before tossing this next one out. Hats off to_ _tavairussanchez for guessing at this chapter's motif. I'll give Van der Ay credit for the minor change to the story format, though it was prompted by the confusion I'm sure many of you felt reading different POVs. And BBwulf, you just fired me up to get pounding out this next chapter, thanks!_

 **Day Five**

Naruto woke up and knew it was too early, which a glance to the clock confirmed. The bed was much more comfortable than the old, beaten mattress he'd requisitioned from an alley.

'A comfortable prison,' he thought, relaxing his body. 'I need a plan.'

He closed his eyes for a moment and opened them in front of his seal's Iron bars.

"Kyuubi." He called out. Echoes were his only reply.

Hesitantly, he took a step out towards the bars. He leaned forward a bit, squinting to see inside. The inside of the cage was thick blackness and he thought for a moment about reaching inside. Then thought better of it and backed away, water splashing around his knees.

"Was the water always this high?" He muttered.

He spared another glace into the Kyuubi's cage, and remembered what Yamato had said the previous night. He felt slightly amiss without the Kyuubi to speak to. He, at least, knew where the Kyuubi stood and was on his side, to a point. It was then that it really sunk in.

'I'm on my own in this, and for better or worse the Kyuubi is my only confidant.'

He thought about the day to come and pondered what he'd do today. For the next however many days. How many days had it been since he'd left the academy? Could he even still say he was 13? His body was 13 but he'd experienced so much more.

"Or have I?" he whispered.

Was he living his own life or what he thought he was supposed to live? All he'd done was train. He wanted to be Hokage, but that was a means to an end. He thought he could become a weapon for his Hokage, but this is where his ambition got him. He wanted to be acknowledged by the villagers, but who were they to set his self-worth. He needed more time to think. He could have years to think, to discover what life he wanted to live. He would live today, and he would see the villagers for who they were, beyond their fears.

"I have to train my body and my seals. I will never be a prisoner again."

He opened his eyes, in his bed once more, and glanced at the clock.

"Less than a minute. That's good to know." He said nodding to himself.

He turned on the light and grabbed some paper. He wrote for the next few hours until he started to smell food. He rolled the paper up and got ready for the day.

Next was the most awkward breakfast he'd ever experienced. Yamato made eggs and toast which were passable, but it was finished in completed silence. Nothing but monotonous and rhythmic chewing of food, punctuated by the rare scrape of a utensil.

"Thank you." Naruto said and he got up to wash his dish.

Yamato got up soon after and put his dish, along with the dishes he'd used to cook the meal, into the sink.

"No, thank you. Wash those up and meet me out side."

Naruto sighed and grabbed the pan to begin washing.

After finishing he walked outside to see a ring of wooden posts and Yamato sitting with his eyes closed, back to the morning sun.

Naruto walked into the center of the ring, and looked at Yamato, shielding his eyes from the glare.

'Bet he did that on purpose.' Scowling as he thought.

"Whenever you're ready, pull on the Kyuubi's chakra as slow as possible and see how much you can take before you start to lose control. If you feel like you need help, look to me and I'll force the chakra back."

Naruto nodded to Yamato and closed his eyes. He felt the sun's warmth on his face, the wind rustling his hair and the song of the forest in his ears. He felt his chakra in him and started to feel for the fox.

'Kyuubi', He thought.

And an enormous mass inside of him began to stir.

'You ready for your yard time? Slowly, this time, and you'll get a full day to roam. I just need to figure out how much I can take without losing control or making my clones unable to make it the whole day."

A trickling of chakra started to flow into him and he immediately felt like he was going to burst at the seams. He began to mold the chakra into the imaginary shells for his shadows. He could feel them, faintly taking shape around him. He thought back to the number he'd guessed would be appropriate and tried to envision the drawing he'd made. 1500 dots on his page, would give him just over 4 years to think and train. Once he could feel all of them, some drifting in and out of his peripheral. He began to pitch off the Kyuubi's chakra and share his own. The drain was immediate and he found his body pulling some of the Kyuubi's chakra.

"Almost enough for the day". He thought, attempting to stay calm.

His thoughts began to turn dark with anger, but he quickly thought back to how he felt this morning. The calm contemplation he'd felt and the Kyuubi's chakra began to mix throughout the shadows and himself.

He reached for the Kyuubi's mind, 'Kage Kyuubi', and a presence other than his own began to solidify into the clone next to him. He froze the chakra, pinching the countless connection between him and his clones, and opened his eyes.

Shadows where everywhere and they all stood facing him looking calm and ready. Nodding to himself in satisfaction, he pulled out his scroll. He began tearing off pieces and handing strips of paper to his shadows. His knees felt weak, threatening to fail him with small dips, and his hands were trembling, until one of the shadows gently took the scroll out of his hands. He started to walk away and was soon helped to a seat outside of the circle by another two shadows.

Yamato stood in awe. He was expecting five to ten shadows, but this was frightening. 'Should I stop them? Would they just return to him? Could he handle all of that chakra? There's no way I'm going to be able to keep tabs on all of these clones. I have to speak to the Hokage.'

Yamato walked over to the boy and kneeled in front of him.

"Are you ok?"

Naruto looked up panting slightly, one eye half lidded and sweat running down his face. "I'll be fine. Any idea how many I made?"

Yamato frowned, "I suspect you made close to 1500, but I didn't count. I need to head out now. Make sure they don't cause any trouble or we'll have to limit the number you make."

Yamato made to leave and then stopped, "Good work Naruto, and please make sure they're henged, and the fox mask is out if you didn't know. We can't let the civilians make the connection between your little spar with the ANBU and your shadows." A swirl of leaves later and he was gone.

"Of course, Warden." Naruto said quietly to himself. He laid back and decided to take a nap.

"Someone wake me up in a couple hours."

An hour later he was jolted into another life.

 **Shadow**

He was in a crowd of shadows. Shuffling towards the original to get an assignment for the day, until the original was carried away by two other shadows. He looked around, but couldn't get a beat on the number of other shadows.

'Maybe there won't be enough assignments for me to have one.'

After several minutes he reached the clone handing out assignments. He reached out for a piece of paper and was instead told to go work on seals. He frowned for a moment, about to ask whether he meant Kage or written, but noticed he lacked to materials for written seals. He shuffled out of the crowd and headed in a random direction into the forest. After a couple of minutes he stopped.

'Here seems good enough.' He thought.

He looked over to a tree and imagined the silencing seal, before he shivered at the thought. Then a smile broke so wide across his face he thought he'd explode. He struggled to picture the explosion seal in his mind, eyebrows dipping in concentration. It was much more intricate than the other seals and required a great deal of chakra.

'Maybe I could just make a tiny explosion, like a pop, just to make sure that it worked.'

Nodded and muttered, "kage." He smiled at the intricate seal on the tree, and then start laughing. The laughter grew until tears came streaming down his face.

"This is going to be so awesome."

Forty minutes later, he was siphoning another failure from the tree. He ran forward and kicked the tree.

"Shit."

'Why can't I make it explode?' He thought with no small amount of frustration.

'Maybe I'm not picturing it correctly. I could go run and take a look at what it's supposed to look like, or maybe I'm just wasting my time. I'm almost out of chakra anyways.' His eyebrows came together in thought, and he looked up at the sun.

'It's been way too short a time for me to have run out of chakra.'

And that's when he felt it. There was a small connection to him and his chakra was slowly being drained. He felt for the direction and leaped into the trees to investigate.

'Maybe I should try to stop it? Though, if I did it might tip them off. Greedy bastard probably didn't use his chakra sparingly. I'm going to give him a piece of my mind.'

When he felt he was getting closer, he started moving as quietly as possible. He rounded the trunk of a tree and stepped out on a branch, to look into a clearing. Between the leaves, he saw it. The blood red demonic fox mask that had haunted his nightmares.

"No…"he all but whispered. Inching forward, despair welling up inside him, he saw a large seal surrounding the traitorous clone.

'A barrier seal?'

The shadow's mask snapped into place, eye holes drilling into him, and the pull on his chakra became a raging stream. He tried to pinch it off, but it was too late. He felt his chakra shell crumble under the will of the shadow, and his last memory was of the demonic fox mask.

 **Original**

Naruto was on his feet running, head dizzy from getting up so quickly. His steps were uneven at first until he had released his weights and was pouring everything he had into a dead sprint through the forest. Bushes and small braches were lashing out at him as he breathed heavily. He reached out across his connection to see of any other shadows were in the area, and was surprised that so few had stayed close by. He reached out with his will and demanded that they come to his aid, pulsing small bits of his chakra to those that were closest. He could feel a few begin to close in on an intercept path. He consciously kept his reaches for chakra away from the Kyuubi's reserves, though the panic he felt was making it difficult. He made for a particularly large leap and…

 **Shadow**

He was walking up to get his assignment, wondering about the Fox and what he'd do. 'Maybe I should just follow him. Ehhh, I'm sure someone's already thought of that. I'll just stick to whatever I'm assigned to do.'

Finally it was time he received his assignment.

"Quiet meditation." He shadow said, before, "Next."

Obviously he'd dealt with the shadow's that received this assignment and knew that dismissal was the best option.

He made to argue, but stopped himself.

'I guess someone has to do it.'

He started dragging his feet and walked aimlessly through the forest until he come across a small pond surrounded by a few willows. Dragonflies zipped around the water's surface and the faint sound of crickets and a few frogs finally found him, as he roused from his inner monologue. The reflection of the light purple flower like leaves of the willow upon the pond was beautiful. He glazed into the pond, his eyes taken towards the edge by a water skimmer. He broke away from its bobbing like dance and sat down.

'This is actually pretty nice. He closed his eyes and felt at peace. He'd never really meditated and, for a moment, wondered what he was supposed to do. He thought back to the book that he'd read about shinobi practices and remembered the passage on mediation. It had seemed like a waste of time, given that there was no one way to meditate beyond letting your mind become focused, so the techniques were vague in his mind. He found a comfortable position, after shifting around for a couple minutes. He then became uncommonly itchy and wondered if he wasn't always this itchy, and was just too occupied with life to notice. Finally a warm calm came over him and he sat listening to the denizens of the pond.

What felt like hours later, he was jolted by pulses of chakra through his connection to the original. He could feel the panic in the original's energy and the urge to meet him. He was soon leaping through the trees in an attempt to catch him, feeling the original's position changing quickly. Suddenly his chakra was rushing out of him and a demonic mask was in front of him. He tried to avoid the person, but they dropped beneath him and grabbed his foot. His momentum was carried in an arc downward and slammed into a tree branch.

 **Original**

Vertigo struck as his position changed abruptly and he missed the branch in front of him. His thigh hit the branch his foot had missed and he briefly felt a sense of relief that he'd only hit his thigh, when his tumble brought his back clean across a branch. A cracking sound was painfully clear, and what he thought was most likely the bottom of a foot struck the back of his head. Unparalleled pain gripped him, before his legs grew numb. He crumpled onto the forest floor and there, he remained.

 **A/N;** _Hope you enjoyed! And if you're wondering about how the clone is still around, I don't explain everything. It will eventually come up, but for now I leave you to your own thoughts. Thanks again for taking the time to read my story._


	7. 1560 days later

**1560 days**

The pure nothingness of unconsciousness peeled away and in the void it left, pain took residence. Naruto laid on the forest floor, unable to move for a while after he woke into pain. His only reprieve came from slipping into a few memories of his shadows and they all had the same ending. This only added misery and anguish to the pain.

Each time they'd had their chakra siphoned and, having not known the significance of it, were weary to fight the pull. Only once it had dawned on them, that it was most likely not the original, did they fight it. He couldn't quite be sure of the number, but it was about 10 that had met their fate from the demon. He couldn't be sure of much as his mind was fragile, like an open sore. The pain was an overbearing companion and his thoughts frequently dipped towards unconsciousness. With difficulty he made a shadow, which took him back to his new residence.

The trip was terrible, though he knew he'd heal eventually. His spine was broken. He was sure of it. He knew the moment of disorientation would become his greatest handy cap, but he was unprepared for the extent to which such a moment could place him in danger. The shadow he'd created, used some of his charka to create another shadow, to tell Yamato a version of what had happened. Knowing there wasn't anything else he could do, he let his mind fall back into unconsciousness.

 **Shadows**

 _"A shinobi is the shadow, he observes everything and is nothing."_

Hooded figures crawled through the city. Conversations that filled in the gaps of everyday life were heard. People still spoke of the puppet maker and the phantom killer. The lack of any news regarding the investigation caused the rumors to expand without bound. The gruesome details of the murder were spoken of in hushed shadows of fear. Speculation as to why the kindly old man was murdered also found the shadows. His dislike for the demon brat was well known and some even bet that the "little monster" was responsible.

 _"A shinobi treads only over paths within the shadow's embrace."_

The ANBU were almost invisible at times and other times making rounds of the village in what seemed like random patterns. He focused his surveillance on the walls of the village and worked on improving his stealth. His skills from his pranking days seemed to pay off, though he was never quite sure whether he was able to avoid detection or they ignored him.

The military police seemed to cover the village in defined areas. A few officers were assigned to each area and most were ninja. He could guess from the gate and balance that most of the members were non – career – ninja clan members from the Hyuga and Inuzuka clans. A few were civilians and were partnered with ninja. There was never a civilian without a ninja. No one was ever able to detect his henge and the ability to change into objects allowed him to overhear anything. He toyed with different objects and found that a floating leaf was a good way to enter a place through the window, and avoid suspicion.

 _"Shinobi are a village's weapon. They do their mission without question or complaint."_

There were several genin teams, performing menial tasks. To his horror he realized that he too would be doing such tasks. He watched every one of them, until he was certain that the Jonin sensei had become aware of him. That was the moment he'd have died, so he'd back off for a time and then sneak back towards them. A few of them had confronted him, and he'd only stood his ground and stated that he was training. Only one took offense, "If I sense you skulking around again, you will receive all the training you'll need." The threat, recognized for what it was, was his cue to choose a new target.

 _"A shinobi knows only the mission and accomplishes the mission with his life if necessary. There may be a time when your life is spent for the village. If and when this day comes, a shinobi dies the only honorable death there is for one who deals in death and blood."_

\- _"Way of the Shinobi", by Himura Danzo_

 **Original**

Pain, hot fire burned through his brain. He tossed and turned and only faintly knew he was not alone as the memories burned into his mind.

 **Shadows**

Taijutsu forms were supposed to be mastered one at a time, but Naruto was never one to follow things by the book. As far as he was concerned, the more forms he trained in, the more versatile a fighter he'd become. This was why he had seven different taijutsu scrolls with him. Groups of 50 were sent to master each one. One would hold the scroll and walk another through each form, making changes until the forms matched way they looked in the scroll exactly. Then the holder of the scroll would walk to the next one and repeat it for a different pose. After a time all of the clones would be holding a pose and the shadow walking around with the scroll would change the form to a different pose. They talked to each other, but wouldn't move. At first the conversations were stunted, awkward, but soon a sense of belonging fell over them and smiles soon accompanied laughter. They talked about the training and what they thought it would be like to have a team. Other people he'd be able to trust. Friends.

 **Original**

Day after day was punctuated with agonizing pain. In those moments between days of his life he was able to feel the Kyuubi's chakra holding back the memories and healing his brain.

 **Shadows**

Seals were awesome. Plain and simple. He could draw objects, within a small radius, into a storage seal, if he knew the right way to write the Kanji. Water, fire, air, and other things. He could even draw chakra into the seal, but that always dissipated into the matrix and he soon, begrudgingly, abandoned the notion of storing chakra, for now. He could make barriers that blocked light, sound, jutsu, or people. He could even key them, to let only his chakra through. The possibilities where endless, but he wanted time space jutsu. The second and the fourth were known for their time – space jutsu and he was determined to inherit their title.

His first thought was to master the storage seal. It was the most basic time – space jutsu and he knew the secret was there. But where did things go, when in a seal? He'd read the theory behind it, but it all seemed to dance around the subject. They gave postulations about other dimensions, and parallel dimensions, but it just make his head hurt. Where was the space the seal created? He was determined to find out, by getting into the seal. Then he could experiment.

For now he would perfect his seals and push to go a little further each time.

 **Original**

Again; the bed, the pain, the place between time, he returned for his momentary torture. Every day ended in this seemingly meaningless torture.

 **Shadows**

 _"As far as we can tell, Chakra permeates every facet of life. Some believe that chakra is the conscious energy of the universe and we only access a version of it. Chakra does not obey the laws of conservation of energy. It is suspected that, when jutsu are formed, we are using chakra to bend the universe to our will, instead of creating the jutsu itself."_

\- _"On the subject of Chakra", by Sarutobi Hiruzen_

Naruto sat in silence; at a park, in the forest, in a tree, on a lake, on buildings, near playgrounds, by training grounds, the hot springs, at a temple…

His thoughts betrayed his attempts to reach out and sense the world. They pulled him back towards himself, his past, his hazy future… his tenant. He felt his chakra flux through the surface of his body, and into the ground. It would only be after he'd received his memories that he'd notice that it was not a waste of time.

 **Original**

He was on a different bed now, and it didn't seem like the memories were in order. The chakra, holding the memories of his shadows, was swirling around in his head, seeking to return. The pain was too much, and he couldn't really think, except to extend some feeling of thankfulness to the Kyuubi.

 **Shadows**

Reading had grown on Naruto. While he still dragged his feet towards the library, once he found a book that wet his appetite for "shinobi awesomeness" he'd lose himself completely. Only one thing could top books, that mixed the fairly – tail – like – stories of great shinobi with practical knowledge of jutsu theory. Seals. Old dusty tomes, that required dictionaries and additional material to understand, soon brought waterfall tears of joy and frustration.

If anyone had been curious about the 30 teenage ninja, quietly discussing and reading seal theory, it was the librarian. She saw the whisker marks, and mirror like smile on their faces and knew it was him. A quick investigation led her to the shadow clone jutsu, but she's never thought anyone would be able to use that jutsu in such a way. Further thinking about it, led her to believe that this couldn't be all of his clones. He wouldn't send all of his clones to do reading at the library. Most would be doing other things to train. The thought dredged up old, paralyzing fears. That, and the fact that he was reading seal theory, of all things. Could it be trying to find a way out of its container?

She banished those thoughts, reminding herself that he was not the fox. But, doubts crept around the edges of her thoughts and, by the end of the day, she knew one thing for certain. She had to talk to someone about this.

 **Shadow**

He stalked Sasuke, who seemed to have taken his warning to heart. While most might not have noticed the way his eyes roamed the surrounding and how his head cocked slightly to give him better vantages, Naruto saw it for what it was. The same healthy paranoia that gripped any seasoned shinobi. After an hour of stalking his prey he gave away his position with a, "Yo." Sasuke saw the green haired boy and dropped to a stance.

"None of that today, just wanted to say hi."

Sasuke's eyes bore into him for a moment longer before he nodded and relaxed.

"Maybe we could hang out for a bit. I've been training non-stop and I read that shinobi should take time to unwind, so they don't get burnt out." Naruto delivered with a small smile.

"What about your teammates?" Sasuke said, giving him a wary look.

"Well, I'm just a shadow clone. Figured I could send one over so at the end of the day I could get to live a nice bit of leisure time with a friend."

"hn." And a nod.

They walked around in comfortable silence for a while, aside from the bows and nods of recognition from the villagers. Sasuke had at first turned away from the villager's respectful greetings, with slightly less than a scowl, until his green haired companion smacked him on the back of his head.

"Be nice, you'll make your clan look bad."

Sasuke stopped to glare at Naruto.

"You're the last true Uchiha, right? So, how you act reflects the entire clan now. Try to give a good impression, at least." Naruto said, eyes almost closed, hands behind his head.

"How else are you going to rebuild your clan? With fan girls?"

Sasuke's eyes widened in horror, "No." Left his lips, barely a whisper.

They walked around and stopped for food. Slowly Sasuke seemed to lighten up and "friend" might not have been an over exaggeration of their relationship. Naruto contemplated exposing himself to the Uchiha, but thought better of it. This would need to be a decision the original makes. When the day had come to a close they'd been sitting by a pond in the Uchiha clan grounds talking about what kind of clan Sasuke wanted his descendants to be like. Naruto has started this by asking him what kind of clan he wanted to make, "It's not often someone gets to remake a clan. What kind of clan are the Uchiha going to be now?"

The sun was setting and Naruto stood, "Seems about time for me to head out. Thanks for hanging out with me. I feel more refreshed already."

Sasuke stood and bowed slightly, "No, I think I should be the one to thank you."

Naruto smiled and held up a fist. Sasuke met the fist with his own, with a smile, and then dispersed the shadow with a punch to the face.

 **Shadow**

 _"In the village hidden in the leaves, your comrades are the most important assets. Beyond the most powerful jutsu, or carefully laid plans, ninja live and die by their teammates."_

\- _"Who are the ninja hidden in the leaves", The Second Hokage_

Ino could be seen through her families shop. The blonde girl greeted everyone who entered with a kind smile, never seen at the academy. Her eyes smiled, in a way that tugged at the corners of his mouth, while she created her flower art. The meticulous placement of flowers and filler pieces amazed him.

He was a dark haired boy, with bright blue eyes and faint whisker marks. He wore something that played at the likeness of Sasuke's usual garb, and smiled genuinely at her warm greeting, in harmony with the soft chime of the door's opening. He told her he was looking for some flowers for his grandmother, and she led him around telling him about all the different flowers and their meanings.

He asked her about her training and was sad find out she hadn't trained at all since graduation. He found himself sickened by the thought.

'How could she take her ninja training so lightly?"

She noticed the look of confusion and disgust on his face and asked, "What's wrong?"

"What's wrong?" He repeated indignantly. "You think being a ninja is a game? You're going to face missions and people that want to kill you and your teammates. People are going to put their faith in you and their lives will someday depend on your ability as a ninja and you're not training with everything you've got. That's what's wrong."

He dropped the flowers he'd been holding and left the girl in shocked silence. He furiously walked down the street thinking.

'I can't believe I would have been happy to have her on my team. I bet Sakura is doing the same thing. Lounging about, daydreaming about Sasuke saving her from her own duties as a ninja.'

He thought more about Sakura and her fan girl tendencies. His mind wondered over to Lee's teammate Tenten. She was a kunoichi. Not a little girl, pretending to be a ninja.

'I hope I don't get stuck with any of those fan girls.'

He thought about all the girls in his class that had fond over Sasuke and couldn't help the grimace that founded over his face. His henge slipped away as he walked and he noticed Hinata coming out of a pastry shop. He thought about how she was and realized she was one of the few who seemed to have a good head on her shoulders. She always won the girls taijutsu spars and was even nice to him. If he was going to spend the day getting to know a girl in his class it would be her.

"Hey Hinata chan", he called out as he sped up to intercept her.

"N – Naruto", she sputtered out.

"How's it going?" He asked.

Her cheeks lit up and her fingers came together, "I, uh, well, I - I've been training and r – reading over the stuff we c – covered in c – class."

Naruto's smile widened, "That's awesome. I've been training hard too. Are you excited for team assignments?"

Her blush deepened and she looked away, "Y – yes."

His smiled slipped a bit and he became confused by the way she was acting. 'She's kind of awkward', he thought.

"Hinata sama!" A voice carried over to them.

They looked to the source and another Hyuga in white robes was running over. He reached them and looked at Naruto out of the corner of his eye. "Hinata sama, you can't run off without a guard or at least someone to watch over you. And you definitely can't be seen talking with just anyone. You're to be the next leader of our clan and we don't want to start rumors that your friends with people like…" He paused, glancing disdainfully at Naruto again, "that."

Naruto thought for a moment about it. He didn't have the best of reputations and didn't want to get the one nice girl in his class in trouble. The man may have been a civilian, but Naruto didn't want to cause a scene. His face fell and he began to turn away from them.

Suddenly, a fire erupted in Hinata, and she was glaring at the man, "I can talk to whoever I want, and Naruto is definitely the type of person I'd like to be friends with." She took a step forward and pointed a shaking finger at him. "You can go back to the compound and await me there. I'm going to be out with Naruto, and I would appreciate if you had more respect for my friend."

The man recoiled as if stuck and Hinata stormed off grabbing Naruto's hand. He complied rushing to keep up with her and didn't know how to respond. 'She's got a hell of a grip.'

A block later the adrenaline faded from her and the situation hit her suddenly. She glanced at the hand she was holding and Naruto's smiling face and fainted.

His grip on her hand allowed him to keep her from hitting the ground. He pulled her up and briefly thought about taking her back to the guy they'd left or her clan home. He brushed away those thoughts and pulled her over his shoulder.

'The last thing she or I need is to show back up to her clansmen with her unconscious.'

He glanced around to see a few looks for horror from some civilians and jumped up onto the rooftops.

A few minutes later Hinata woke up. She sat up to see she was on top of the Hokage monument and Naruto was a few feet away, looking over the city.

"Thanks for sticking up for me." He said, eyes still looking over the city. "I've never had anyone stick up for me like that. I'm glad we can be friends", he finished glancing over at her.

She blushed and they fell into a comfortable silence for a moment.

"This is my favorite place in the village. I come here when I need to think."

"I – it's a v – very nice place", she answered quietly.

They sat in silence for a while until he stood up. "I should probably get you home. I'm sure the villagers that saw me run off with you have already gotten word to your family. We can hang out another time right?"

She nodded, but remained silent, thinking about how to explain passing out in front of so many people.

They took the streets back and she couldn't help but notice the glares he received as they walked.

Naruto started to feel the embarrassment about the hateful glares and couldn't think of anything to say if she asked about it. He glanced at her to see her reaction and she just smiled kindly at him. He gave her a small smile and felt grateful she was too nice to ask about it.

When they got close to the compound Hinata started looking at him and pushing her fingers together.

'I guess she is just shy', he thought. 'The only time I see girls act like that is when…" And something seemed to click in his mind. He'd slowed to a stop without realizing it, a thoughtful look settling over his face.

"… w – well, I – if you wa – wan – want t – to."

He snapped out of it seeing her blushing face looking away and grimaced, realizing he'd missed something. He put his hand behind his head and smiled widely at her, guessing at the general meaning.

"I would love to hang out, maybe we could get some ramen on a training break tomorrow around noon?"

She beamed at him and they were both startled by a cough. They turned to see an older Hyuga woman standing to the side.

"Hinata sama, I'm sorry to interrupt, but your father has been looking for you."

Hinata's expression grew somber and she nodded to the woman. Naruto, suddenly feeling awkward, took a step back, "See ya tomorrow Hinata chan?"

She nodded and smiled weakly at him.

He waved and jumped up on to a nearby building.

'Maybe things aren't so bad.' He thought smiling to himself. 'I already have a friend

 **Shadow**

A portly boy sat atop the roof of the Akimiki clan home. The despair was palpable about him. Naruto had watched him practice for a while, attempting to expand his fist is mid punch and failing to do so. His fist would always expand too slowly to be effective and he'd slouch for moment in defeat before trying again. He could feel the chakra sluggishly welling up as the expansion activated and it felt painful to watch. When the boy had given up and began stuffing his face it tugged at his heart.

Naruto was in his green haired persona, he normally reserved for his meetings with Sasuke, when he landed on the roof.

"You're chakra is even slower than your punch. It should be like an explosion before your fist would meet the target. Boom!" he shouted punching his fist forward.

Choji's mouth stopped working. He looked at the green haired boy, and then looked around.

"Uhhh, you know about my clan's techniques?"

Naruto frowned at this and placed his fists on his hips. "Well, no, but it's what you're going for, right?"

"Uhhh, I guess." Choji said, his mouth suddenly remembering its purpose.

Naruto smiled a mischievous grin and spoke.

"Maybe you just need the right motivation? What do you think, my little fatty?"

A fire lit in Choji's eyes, "What did you say?"

"Ah, it must be hard to hear over all the crunching. Maybe if you weren't such a fatty you'd be able to.."

Naruto was cut off as Choji he flew at him in a rage.

He jumped outside the boy's reach smiling widely, "Ya gotta be quiker than that fatty."

"I'll show you", Choji shouted.

Naruto spent the rest of his time running around the Akamiki clan ground, dogging over – sized fists. Choji's blood was boiling and the way the green haired boy kept dodging his blows sent him over the edge. Naruto continued his taunting when whenever he sensed the boy's anger was subsiding.

"Oooo, did someone steal your cake, fatty?"

Choji barreled at him attempting the punch, his fist got closer, but he still couldn't get the enlargement to happen at the right time.

Some of the clan members stopped to watch the encounter, and some started cheering him on, when they heard the insults.

When some of the clan members came to his father, wondering if they should interfere, he only stood and left to watch.

Soon his father joined the

Towards the end of the day Choji was sweating profusely, gritting his teeth, refusing to give up. Naruto had just finished another jeer, "Get tired fat boy?" Choji lunged forward with another punch, exploding chakra into arm, and his wagon – sized fist expanded out, catching the boy in middle stride. Naruto smiled softly when he saw the strike was true, too quickly for most of them to catch, and burst into a puff of smoke.

Choji gawked at the cloud of smoke and then at his fist. "I did it", he whispered to himself.

Choji fell back in exhaustion and was caught by his father. "Good job son."

 **Shadow**

Naruto had never played with kids before, and he knew, after today, he might not have the mind to do so any longer. So, it was now or never. He stood knee high again, black hair, brown eyes, in simple clothes. He sprinted into the playground and started unloading handfuls of the cardboard kunai he'd crafted an hour ago. His targets where struck lightly and chaos ensued. Soon kunai were flying in every direction and the sounds of laughter and shouting erupted from the playground.

It only took a few minutes for the joy to seep into his soul. His problems and worries seemed to dissolve in the face of the children's bright shining smiles. After an hour or so there was a lull in the playing, when the mothers started to call their children for lunch. He'd found himself lost for a moment until a smiling woman came to kneel before him. He'd meant to step back away, but found his knees weak from her soft smile.

"Here alone?" she asked.

He tore his eyes away from her, unable to speak. His heart became erratic and her hand folded into his, along with another smaller one. He turned to see a smiling blonde girl next to him.

"You can eat with us." She said cheerily.

Questions came while they ate and the lies came so easily he almost felt guilty. Almost.

After eating they played some more and he showed a little of the tumbling he'd worked on to wow the kids. Soon though, the sun was setting and he noticed the mother, Susan, waiting around. She was looking around and began to walk toward him, no doubt to confront him about his "missing parents". He waved to her and took off down the street at a dead sprint. He refused to look back or to tarnish the day with sadness. He smiled and burst into smoke around the next corner.

 **Shadow**

Naruto browsed the market. He took in the sights and sounds, smiling at everyone. When their eyes met the young black haired ninja they smiled too. A warm kind greeting might come next, and every once in a while an affectionate pat on the head. He looked in every store and met the owner's kind questions, about what he was looking for, with a smile and a non-committal answer. He knew what he was looking for but he was enjoying the ability to browse at his leisure, like everyone else. His walk's determined tone took on a lounging gate and he, for today, was just another villager.

He continued through the market and around to the outer lying shops. There, he found what he was looking for. "Trinkets and gadgets", he read aloud as he stood outside a large shop. He walked in through a thick black curtain and stopped when he saw it, the grappling hook he'd read about, hanging on display. There were other devices he'd seen in cases and hung on the walls, but there, in the center, was the mechanical grappling hook. Naruto walked up to it and pressed his face against the glass.

"Ahh the grappling hook. Not very useful to ninja who can walk up walls and over water. Still, an impressive contraption. Well, the ones that extend and release their grip are." A young voice rang out through the shop but he wasn't able to place it.

"Over here." Came from the corner, and he looked the see some strange looking mask pull up the reveal one of his civilian class mates. He stood perplexed by the boy. In school he'd scored the highest in class tests, but was abysmal in taijutsu and ninjutsu. The pale, black haired boy normally kept to himself and scribbled in his note book. His leather armor was the only thing that would have made you believe he might have been a warrior. With his gauntly limbs and thin face, he was even picked on by some of the girls more than Naruto was. He was at least indifferent to Naruto.

"I'm niijin, Hewitt. My father owns this store and I'm pleased to help you find anything you need. What were you looking for?"

Naruto pointed at the grappling hook, "I read about it and wanted to see how it worked. Maybe you could explain it to me and show me how some of this stuff works. The diagrams and explanations just confused me. I could pay you for your time."

The boy seemed to look questioningly at him. "I don't have time to teach someone, but I can sell you one along with the tools to take it apart. I'm sure if can't figure it out with a book and the device itself, you'd be better off spending your time on something more productive."

Naruto nodded, gave him the money and Hewitt vanished into the back room for a moment. He returned with a bag of tools and another grappling hook. Naruto took the bag, "Thank you. So, what are you working on?"

Hewitt only pulled down his mask, "stuff."

Then he bowed and gestured to the door, "Thank you for your business, ninja san."

Naruto chucked softly and left with his stuff. He went back to his apartment, stopping at the library to grab some books, and set his task. Hours later and he was surrounded by all the pieces of the grappling hook. He attempted to put them back together in pieces from the diagram, but they never seemed to work correctly.

He thought back to the kid that had dismissed him. 'Maybe he was right.'

 **Shadow**

Naruto found Inuzuka Kiba at the training grounds of the Academy. At first it had seemed like he was just chasing after his canine partner, but the fierceness of their pace set it apart for some leisure activity and Naruto was instantly jealous.

"Yo", Naruto said from the edge of the training ground and Kiba tripped over his own feet, skidding into the ground. He growled in pain and looked over to see who'd been able to get so close, while avoiding his enhanced senses.

"Naruto", he said matter – of – fact – ly. Then, noticing the headband, "How'd you get that?" He pointed up to the headband in disbelief.

Naruto repressed a scowl, at forgetting to henge himself, even after being reminded before he left.

He paused looking at Kiba for a moment before deciding to himself. "I was awarded the headband after showing that I had hid my true skills to everyone at the academy. I thought you'd have been one of the few to figure out my deception." Naruto said, cocking his head slightly and raising an eyebrow.

Kiba's initial reaction was to deny the boy's claim, but something told him that it might have been true. Naruto held himself differently and there weren't many people who were able to sneak up on him, at least none close to his age. Then he noticed an odd thing. There was no scent coming from him and that, itself, would be been cause to worry, since there was always a scent.

"Skills like what? Don't tell me you're some kind of genius." Kiba said with a dead pan look.

Naruto smiled softly at one of the only kids his age that would talk to him somewhat nicely. "Stealth, sealing, and other stuff I wish to keep hidden."

"Sealing?" Kiba said walking over to Naruto.

"How about this. I show you a bit about sealing and you tell me a little about your partnership with your dog?" Naruto reached out his hand.

Kiba glanced briefly at his partner, "There are things I can't tell you about how we raise our partners, but I could tell you some things."

Naruto took a step forward, hand still reached out, and spoke "Sounds fair, I'll tell you a little and you tell me a little."

Kiba smiled and gripped his hand, "Cool."

The Naruto suddenly remembered he didn't have any sealing supplies, "And in exchange for buying some supplies I'll create a few seals you can use in battle."

"What kind of seals?"

"Heh, you'll see."

As they walked Kiba told him how the best dogs were paired with ninja and about their life long partnership. Most of the details regarding how they were able to combine jutsu were glossed over, but the actual care and maintenance was thorough.

Soon they had retrieved the materials and, after some grumbling from Kiba about the cost, they were in his house.

Naruto went over the basics of seals, while taking note on a small scroll, and Kiba's thoughts about the boy were destroyed. Naruto had remained quite during their walk, only prompting Kiba to expand on things here and there. Kiba hadn't told him anything that would get him in trouble with his clan, but he did tell him much more than he'd originally planned to. Now Naruto's explanation, while simple, seemed very complex and lost Kiba a few times. Naruto took one scroll and brushed through an explosive seal, while talking about the chakra requirements for a full scroll explosion and why it was normally not sold. Kibba was shocked to find out that Naruto had actually belonged to an almost extinct clan that specialized in seals.

Naruto hung the scroll to dry and pulled a particularly fat scroll out and laid it from one end of the house to the other. He began slowly working his way down from one end, filling it with kanji and spiral symbols, that he said where his clan's symbol. For this seal he was silent and moved much slower than the other. Kiba had started talking to him as he had during the first seal, but this time was ignored. Naruto was silent and slow, stopping every now and then to think and continue. He finished after four hours with sigh, and a "Good enough."

"Good enough?" Kiba said eyebrows scrunched together.

"Well, this was a special seal I'd seen, and was trying to make it as strong as possible. The spacing and kanji have to be perfect for maximum effect, but it gets more and more difficult to keep the spacing right the longer the scroll. Because of its length and the nature of the seal, you'll be able to stop a jutsu half as strong as the chakra you put into it. I suggest you empty your reserves into it every night and when you get to a point when the all of the seals light up as bright as the sun, then you've maxed it out. It's reusable, as long as the jutsu it blocks doesn't overwhelm it. Just don't go telling anyone I made this scroll for you, or that you have it for that matter." Naruto finished still staring at the scroll.

A cough caught his attention and he looked up to see about twelve people in the living room. He stood like a deer in a headlights and feeling numb having exposed his sealing skills to so many people.

'Shit.'

Kiba grabbed him and pulled him into the kitchen and sat him down in front of a table full of food. Naruto thought to refuse but noted the time and realized he'd been with Kiba most of the day and hadn't eaten. By all accounts, he should be starving so he smiled and beamed at all the food.

"Wow, this looks delicious!"

"Dig in Naruto!" Kiba said with a smile.

Naruto ate with gusto, after he tasted the food and couldn't help himself but want to eat. He was lost in thought about what he'd just done and couldn't help but wonder if he'd somehow made his situation worse. After a couple of plates he felt it was excusable to finish and glanced over to see Kiba was gone.

'I seriously have to take my own advice.' He thought getting up to peer into the living room. An amazon of a woman strode out to him and spoke, "Uzumaki Naruto, I'm Kiba's mom, Tsume. It's nice to finally meet you. I didn't know that the Uzumaki blood ran so strongly in you."

Naruto became bashful scratching the back of his head before he remembered that Kiba's mother was the Inazuka clan head. He quickly he dropped his head in a low bow, remembering the book "Hokage, beyond the strength and jutsu."

"Inuzuka sama, you are too kind. Thank you for extending your hospitality."

She barked out a laugh and ruffled his head. "Glad to know that the rumors surrounding you are baseless."

She nodded to the side at a group of clansmen gathered around the scroll and Naruto's heart sank.

"Over there is a portion of our clan's elders. The old bag of bones over there, Kugon, is very familiar with the work of the Uzumaki. He's not a seal maker per – se, but very knowledgeable. He's always purchased the seals and scroll our clan uses and when I saw your explosion scroll I called him over to take a look. An old man in well – worn leather armor was bent over, slowly making his way down the scroll, while a few others whispered around him. He had just reached the end and looked up at her to give a nod and spoke.

"The quality of work suggests a few years of practice, but the seal is solid work. Definitely Uzumaki in origin." He then turned to Naruto to continue, "I assume you used Kiba's blood in the ink?"

Naruto nodded.

"Where did you get this seal design from?"

It seemed all eyes fell on him and he froze in thought, thinking about telling them the truth. That he'd seen part of the design, sketched in a book describing the Uzumaki seals. A few dozen clones later and some intuitive leaps of faith later he'd pieced together what the rest should be, but that might not be what he should tell them. He looked away in uncertainty, and the old man let out a deep chuckle.

"Just like an Uzumaki. Stories of the seals from Uzu remain in our spoken history, even after their near extinction. Never wade into a battle against an Uzumaki that has had time to set up seals. You do your clan justice child."

He gave a small bow along with the others, aside from Tsume, and Kiba placed his hand on his shoulder and smiled widely at him. "Thank you Naruto."

Tsume nodded at him, and added "Don't worry. No one outside the clan will know of this, though we'll will most likely commission your work sometime in the near future. Most people just copy seals handed down from their teachers and very few delve into the field like an Uzumaki. You're right to keep this skill hidden, though walking around with a scent masking seal will draw attention to yourself." This is when a look of realization hit her. And he knew, it was time to go.

Her eyes never left him as he made his leave, with promises to give Kiba a good spar before team assignments. A sinking feeling gripped him as he walked off, letting his eyes wonder to the setting sun. He paused and watched. Slowly he smiled and thought, 'At least it's over, -and it was a good day.'

 **Shadow**

Deep in a residential area Naruto walked aimlessly. A brown haired ninja, with white and brown grab walked around looking at the homes. Seeing people go about their day, he waved and smiled. They sent back their own kind greetings, asking if he was new to the neighborhood, or some other pleasantry. He helped a small girl trying to get her cat from a tree and was bombarded by her affection. He carried the groceries for an old woman back to her place and, despite his protests, stayed for her special stew.

He sat at her kitchen table, next to the kitchen, while she warmed the food.

"So did you just graduate from the academy?" She asked from the kitchen.

"Yeah, in two days I receive my team assignment. I hope I get a nice team."

"Hmmm, I hear that a ninja's first team becomes a sort of second family for them."

Naruto smiled softly at that, "I hope so."

The old woman walked in slowly, her natural hunch accentuated by the weight of the pot. She gave him a questioning look. "What do your parents thing about you becoming a ninja?"

He looked away, unsure of what he should say until the words fell away from his mouth in a soft whisper, "They died when the Kyuubi attacked."

She put down the stew and started walking toward him. He leaned back in his chair wondering about the pained look in her eyes. She kept coming and wrapped him up in a warm embrace. He sat stiffly for a moment unsure of what to do. He was at a loss, he'd never been hugged like this and emotions came surging up so quickly he could do nothing to stop them. His face grew hot, and he clenched his teeth. His head came forward into her shoulder and he cried. His arms slowly found their way around her and he lost all composure. He was so lost in his agony that he'd lost he'd reverted to his normal form without realizing it.

Still in his embrace she spoke, "My son was a ninja, like I was, but I was too old to defend our village even then. I lost him in the attack. The fox stole much from the people of this village and I fear it will be a long time before the pain goes way. At least we have each other. You'll always be welcome to some of my special stew."

"Thanks granny." He spoke finally pulling himself back together.

She leaned back with her hands on his shoulders and looked into his eyes. The brown eyes were gone, replaced with blue, pain filled eyes. The faint whisker marks, she'd passingly noticed, were now more prominent. She looked up to the blonde hair and it all made sense.

He gave a weak smile to her, a tear slipping through his resolve sliding down a cheek.

She hesitated in the face of the demon. 'Demon?' she thought. 'This is the demon child that we've taken our hate and grief out on? The orphan that was sacrificed to hold the true demon at bay. That's who is in front of me now.' She steeled herself against her prejudice and smiled sadly at him.

"Time to eat."

They ate quietly and Naruto couldn't help but want to keep crying. The warm embrace and hot stew filled him with feelings he'd never felt before. Tears continued to slip sporadically from his eyes, but the old lady didn't comment. She gave him another hug and he left with a bag holding a pot of her stew.

He walked down the street thinking about the old lady. By now, it was late afternoon and the streets were sparse. An old man walking down the road glared harshly at him. He was confused for a moment and glanced into a shop window. 'When?' He thought, and knew as soon as the question had found purchase in his mind he knew the answer.

"Granny", he whispered.

 **Kyuubi**

He kept his from as requested and started to walk around the village. He looked at the humans with barely contained spite, and thought on the looks of hate and disgust that would flash across their faces. He wondered how the boy had been able to retain his love for this place. He'd seen bits and pieces of his life, though was awed to see it for himself.

'Stupid humans, he or I will get you some day.'

At that thought, a bit of a sly smile slid onto his face and he half turned his gaze to the sky. A couple of hours later he found it. A beautiful grass hill sloped to a crest that spread the sky gently over the massive trees that framed that the view.

"Perfect", he said to himself.

He laid back over the crest and gazed at the passing clouds

An hour passed by like the cloud that captured his gaze and Shikamaru's profile invaded the scence. The Kyuubi let out a soothing sigh and glanced at the boy, whom only turned his head slightly to look at him. "How'd you get that head band?"

His lazy eyes held "Naruto" in the silence that slid by.

"This particular place is the best place in the village to look at the sky, are you going to ruin this for me by speaking?"

Shikamaru's head and body slowly squared up with the demon and stared at the blonde for a moment, "Your right, no."

His shoulders slacked and he shuffled over a bit to lay next to Naruto.

The Kyuubi glanced at the boy, to see him staring at the sky. He turned his head back to notice the boy was just outside his peripheral vision.

He grunted his acceptance and they fell into silence.

Hours later Shikamaru, tsk'd "troublesome chores aren't as bad as troublesome mothers." The black haired ninja rose and they spared each other a glance and a nod, before the demon was again alone.

"The only tolerable human I've ever met."

 **Original**

By the time the onslaught of memories finished and his headache fell to tolerable levels Naruto laid in a hospital in the dead of night. It had been years. He was sure of. Tears strode down his face and he stared into the inky darkness. He could faintly feel the hidden ANBU in the corner and smiled thinking over his memories. Then he remembered the Demon shadow, and his face twisted into a scowl. He'd have to hunt him down and he knew that the strange barrier seal was what hid him from his senses before.

He wondered if he could do it again. Another few years between team assignments might be good, but he shuttered at the thought.

'I can't keep doing this. I can barely hold it together right now, and I don't know if I'll be able to deal with another night like this.' His brain throbbed and he closed his eyes tightly.

'We'll see how I feel tomorrow. Maybe I'll just go spar with Kiba and get lunch with Hinata. Yeah, that sounds nice.'

 **A/N:** _I wanted to really convey the amount of time that had passed for him and I wasn't quite sure how to do it. I'm still not satisfied with the chapter, but I'm at a loss as to how to make it better. Let me know your thoughts._


	8. Consequences

**A/N** : **_scarease_** _; no thanks, but your awesome,_ _ **sagemodeman**_ _; thank you for the insightful review,_ _ **the13thmachete**_ _; Thanks for the feedback and praise,_ _ **UzumakiKirofu**_ _; thank you and I hope you enjoy,_ _ **Thuggins21**_ _; Have no fear, I will not abandon this story!,_ _ **ShoYungRai**_ _; lololololololololololololololol, so true._

 _And here is another reminder, the story is rated M, and not for sex. Sorry if you don't like gore, should I update the summary? Anyone have something that would better describe this story? Should I put dark? He's not really dark…but the story is at times._

 **Day six**

Jariya had been in a mountain village, close to Kumo when he received word from a messenger toad.

" _Naruto is suspected of murder. Self-defense is ruled out. Come quickly._ "

His wooden sandals bit chucks of bark from trees. Lashes from small branches left welts around his face, hands and feet.

He blasted past the patrols along the borders of several lands, leaving ninja out of breath and embarrassed that they been so thoroughly out run. 15 hours later, in the early morning hour, he sped past Izumo. Several ANBU who tried to get in his way were put down without a gap in his stride.

The third had opened his window and scooped up his papers, upon feeling the unmasked chakra blazing toward his office. Jariya landed in front of the old man's desk blazing fury in his eyes.

"Where is he?" The voice came smoothly between deep breaths, face like iron.

The third started packing his pipe, "In the hospital, recovering from training."

"What evidence do you have?"

The third finished packing, lit the pipe and took a long drag, "Enough to take action. The council has met and we've been able to reach a compromise. He is to have a limiter seal placed on him."

"And you expect me to put this seal on him?" Jariya asked incredulously.

"Well, I can't be the one to do it. So, it's either you or Danzo."

Jariya nodded, "I see. So you think he did it?"

The Third took another deep drag and let it out with a weary breath. "Two days ago he created a couple thousand shadows and roughed up several teams of ANBU. He drew on the Kyuubi's chakra when he made them and they took on a mind of their own. Reports say that they all had red slit eyes, and fought viciously."

"How does he know the Shadow clone…?" He was interrupted by a look of realization that came over him.

"You think it was a rouge Shadow?"

"Yes, but there was another murder last night." Hiruzen look at Jariya in the eyes.

"Sensei", Jariya said leaning forward to place both hands on the desk. "You said he was doing just fine on his own."

The old man reached into his desk and pulled out an envelope, placing it on his desk. He turned his chair away to gaze outside the window and puffed his pipe. "I'm sorry Jariya, but I may have been wrong."

Jariya pulled out the pictures and his Iron face paled slightly. He flipped through the pictures and whispered, "Naruto."

 **Hours ago**

The streets were abuzz with civilians crowding around an upscale apartment. Five stories high, it housed some of the more recently wealthy merchant traders. Military police had evacuated the building and were questioning everyone who lived there. Neighbors and family members flocked to the scene, demanding answers from the tight lipped officers.

Hana's dogs parted the crowd of bystanders taking in the smell, as Hana's eyes roamed the crowd. She was searching the faces of the people nearby, looking for the gleeful, anticipation she knew would be on the killer's face. That or cool detachment, though there were several who met that criteria. She'd have to wait for the body to be removed and the cries of horror and sadness spread through the crowed.

"Stay here and watch for anything suspicious", she said to the triplets.

She walked up the stairs, passing officers standing guard at each floor. Passing the third floor the sound of gagging echoed through the corridor. A smile tugged at her cheek, 'Probably some rookie', she though amusedly.

A few moments later she paused at the top of the stairs to observe a crime scene photographer hunched over a pile of bile. She knew him. He'd been on the force as long as her and there he was. Sick to his knees like a fresh cadet after their first kill. Something was wrong.

 **Demon Shadow**

The fat, blading man exited his shop and locked up behind himself. His jovial whistling made the fox around the corner grind its teeth in anger.

He could remember the painful hunger that gripped him after he'd been kick out of the orphanage. The fat, greedy man, prying the meat from his grip. Naruto had refused to let go until the man laid his boot to his face. Naruto's nose drew tears into his eyes from the first sharp encounter. Naruto's grip had been fierce until the second stomp, which had driven the back of his head into the ground. Naruto could see the man being pulled back by some decent person who couldn't watch a child, even the demon child, get viciously beaten by a grown man. His watering eyes had found he man's blurry face, through the haze of pain, and he was smiling.

 **Hana**

The smell of blood was overwhelming when she opened to door from the stairwell. The entry way had an elevator to the left and the hallway leading to the penthouse apartments to her right. The door to the apartment was open when she rounded the corner, noticing the pale look to the officer "guarding" the door. She paused and leaned back to see writing on the door. Blood smeared out a message, "HATE ME."

 **Demon Shadow**

He'd followed the pig back to his house. Darted up the stairs, following the sound of the elevator's struggle to wench the fat man to the top floor. He sat outside the man's home until the stirring of the occupants fell silent and the audible click of the TV turning off could be heard.

The man's wife was first, followed by the son and then the daughter. They were lined up along the wall in the living room tied up with rope, so that they were supported against the wall. The pig had been asleep through the rounding up of his family, but it took four shadow's to restrain him, once he'd woken. He was bound across from them so that he could see their faces, and in a way that only one of his arms was free to move a small amount. Naruto pulled the lamps from around the place and shined them on each of his victim's faces, as they screamed and cried for help.

 **Hana**

She looked back down the dim hallway that lead to the main living room. The living room was bright enough to shed enough light into the hallway and she could already see blood spattered all along the far wall. Her stomach began to tighten.

"BLAME ME", was in blood to her left a few feet down, then "CURSE ME", towards the end of the hallway. She took a few steps into the living room and her knees grew weak and the tightening in her stomach made her want to heave.

 **Demon Shadow**

Each time they saw his face the pitch and intensity of their screams would on increase. He'd let the demon mask become much more lifelike, mimicking the Kyuubi's visage in a way that let it move with his facial expressions. The man had been yelling for him to stop and screaming for help until Naruto had pointed to a seal on the wall before leaning in close. His voice came out sounding just like the Kyuubi's, " ** _No one will hear your screams._** "

The man had fallen silent and stared at the wicked looking knife as it came closer. Naruto placed it into the pig's hand hovering next to his own neck.

" ** _This ends when you slit your own throat."_**

The man's eyebrows went up and his breathing became frantic, "You want me to kill myself?" He grasped out.

 ** _"No, I want you to watch. Then live knowing you were too weak to save your family, because you're a coward."_**

And Naruto walked over to the man's wife. Her cries, which had fallen to soft whimpering, picked up into frightened screams, begging him to stop as he picked up one foot and hovered it in front of her face.

The demon only stood staring at her for a moment before another shadow appeared couched next to him, eyeing the pig.

Naruto, leaning a bit to the side so that the pig could see his wife's face, drove his foot into her nose. The screams became shrieks as he repeatedly kicked his heel into her face. The children struggled and screamed for the mother.

The pig struggled screaming, "No, please! They didn't do anything, stop this you bastard!"

The shadow walked over to the man as her shrieks became gurgles and whispered into his ear.

 ** _"The knife is your only friend. Only your death will stop their suffering."_**

The thud of her body against the floor seemed to ring out silence throughout the room. The children stared at their mother, before tear stricken faces slowly turned towards their father.

The demon slowly walked towards the boy, tossing a glance at the pig.

The man's hand was trembling, eyes wide as he stood in shock.

The demon kicked out at the boy's face. Blood splattered over the young girls face and she screamed, "Daddy, please save us!"

The pig's resolve sharpened and he slid the blade across his throat, only to realize the blade was dulled to a rounded edge. He pressed frantically against his throat, praying for his death, until the gurgles came and his boy was dead.

He looked to the Demon in desperation, and saw its smile. The satisfaction was palpable, and the tears clouded his vision. The blurry figure in his peripheral seemed to be moving in slow motion, cutting the rope that held the boy and moving towards his daughter. The only person he had left.

The demon picked up his boot, blood and bits of teeth dripping from the heel. He man jammed the knife, tip first, into the side of his neck.

The demon to his side leaned in closer, **_"Yes almost there. Finish the deed before it's too late."_**

The man hesitated in pain until he heard to first kick into his daughters face briefly muffle her scream, "Daddy, daddy, please." He yanked forward with all his might pulling apart his throat with a brief gurgled cry.

The girl fell to the side breathing swallow, as she gazed at the blood squirting from her father's mutilated neck.

 **Hana**

She stared, frozen by the gruesome image before her. The families body parts skewered with fine cutlery around a little girl's body, crucified on the wall, with "FEAR ME!" written above her. The man's head looked like it had been skinned and stuck over the little girl's. Then she noticed the twitching of the girl's body and she could make out a faint whimpering. Hana dashed forward and removed the flesh from over the little girl's head to see the girl's crying face. Her mouth had been stitched shut and eyes were wild in an empty gaze.

Hana whipped her head over her shoulder and screamed, "Medics!"

 **Original**

The sun was beginning to peak in through the window when Naruto became aware of his surroundings. There was a massive presence as large as Jiji's in the room, but he could tell it wasn't the old man's.

"It killed again. Did it send you the memory?" The voice was gruff and deep.

'He knows. Stay calm. Is it a trick?' Naruto thought as he slowly sat up to face the man.

"Either that you're hiding the truth. That you are the one responsible, and we'll have to send one of the Yamanaka Clan elites to go snooping through your memories." He raised an eye brow as if to pose a question.

'Kyuubi, what do you think?' Naruto thought.

 ** _'If they go into your mind they'll find out about our deal and the demon clone. It seems like you're going to have to tell them the truth or the consequences could be worse.'_**

Naruto looked into the white haired man's eyes before glancing around to the walls to see silencing tags pinned up. They were excellent quality, and the brush strokes screamed master.

"Did you make those?" Naruto said still eyeing one of the tags.

"Yes." Jariya paused for a moment, "I could show you sometime after this is all over. If you want."

"Jariya of the sannin would take the time to show some brat seals?"

Jariya's lips curled a bit at one side. "Not just some brat if the rumors are true."

Naruto looked out the window and a frown settled on his face.

"He showed me the deaths last night. I thought he'd disappeared after the first time, but he found some way to decrease the shadow's chakra flux. He stole some of my clone's chakra yesterday, and was somehow able to give me only a few of his memories. He can also hide himself from me by using a modified barrier seal. I tried to cancel him this morning, but I couldn't sense him. He could be wearing the barrier tags by this point. I kept going through the memories from my shadows that fought him and I'm missing a perspective. I think he was able to take in the memories from one of my clones so he can gain all the knowledge I have if he's able to capture one of my shadows, before it can dispel. I'm not sure what I can do to stop him."

A tear fell from Naruto's eye and he finally turned from the window to gaze over at the sage. "I didn't want to them to die. I'm so sorry."

Jariya felt his heart ache for the child. He got up, walked over to Naruto and placed a hand on the boy's shoulder. "I know. This will stay between the old man and me. There is not a person alive that can hide from me using seals. I'll find him, but first there is some business we have to attend to, to prevent the shadow from getting any stronger. If he were to gain your memories he'd have even more ability to draw from. Since your watcher is unable to keep complete tabs on you, with all the shadows you can create, it's been decided that you'll have most of your chakra sealed. You'll still be able to make clones, just not nearly as many."

Naruto's face grew hard for a moment before it softened and he looked down. "I understand, but what about when I go out on missions?"

The white haired man laughed loudly and ruffled the child's head. "Your jonin sensei will be able to release the seal in case of an emergency, but you probably won't have a need for all the chakra during your first missions."

Naruto scowled when he remembered the genin team walking dogs. "Oh yeah."

Naruto changed into his training clothes in the bathroom while Jariya made notes in a large black book. When he was done Jariya took him out of the room and, instantly, the world lit up with the feeling of chakra presences all around. He froze like a deer in headlights for a moment before casting wild eyes at Jariya.

"Oh, you thought the silencing seals were the only ones I put up?" Jariya said with a small chuckle.

Naruto realized, after a moment, that the man had walked off and rushed to catch up. "So, when are you going to show me some of your seals?"

On their way to the Hokage tower Jariya was sure of two things. Some civilian on the police force leaked information about the most recent murders. That and Naruto was definitely not okay. Instead of the looks of hate and hidden fear that he'd seen cast at other containers, people were out right terrified of the boy. Some of them nodded to him as if grateful he'd been assigned to guard them from the "Demon."

The boy had looked shocked at back peddling and recoiling of the villagers when he saw them and soon he kept his gaze down. People parted in the streets as if the boy were a monstrous beast that would kill them if they got too close. At some point Jariya's hand had come to rest on the boy's shoulder, "Keep your head up kid, you look guilty."

Naruto looked up at him and said, "Aren't I?"

Jariya grit his teeth and they stepped into a shunshin to the entrance of the tower.

Naruto had faintly heard the last minute bickering of the few people in the sealing room. After the frightened faces of the villagers, he'd just wanted to curl into his despair and vanish. Some protest about Jariya performing the seal, which was quickly put down by the old man caught his ear. Naruto had felt his reserves disappear and wondered if this was what it was like for other people. He felt tired and refused to meet anyone's eyes. Jariya had pushed him along, after the sealing, and even the scent of ramen didn't pull him out of the haze he was in. He faintly heard the ramen chef's calls, but couldn't be bothered to look over at him. Jariya had asked if there was anywhere he wanted to go and eat and he thought of the pond his shadows had trained at. A group of them had gathered to train their senses there thought he'd quickly learned his first lesson about "reaching too deep". They walked in silence and he was grateful the older ninja didn't feel the need to fill it with useless banter.

When they arrived at the pond he could feel the man's chakra spike with surprise for a moment, but he paid no attention to it. He sat down and leaned against one of toad statues, "Some of my shadows got caught delving too deeply into their senses. This is what happens for some reason."

Jariya stood in awe. All around the pond where small toad statues in various poses. He stared at their faces, most with a look of peace about them, while a few had strange looks of fear and panic on their faces.

From under his bangs Naruto could see the look of shock on the man's face and it pulled him from his silent contemplation.

"What?"

 **A/N** : _I know it's a bit short but next up is team assignments. I'd do a poll but I don't know how and I'm too lazy. Ooo, how about you put it in a review? Who do you think should be Naruto's teammates AND why? Or I guess you could PM me…_


	9. Team assignments

**A/N:** _I hope the dark stuff didn't scared too many of you off, but that's the problem with writing an evil character. They do evil things…. Anyways read and review._

Jariya had been worried about the boy after they left the hospital. He'd wanted to see how Naruto reacted to the villagers, but he wasn't quite prepared for the quiet withdrawal that Naruto had shown, up through the entire sealing process. Even the old ramen chef had grown pale and slack jawed at Naruto's despondent behavior outside the shop. Then he saw the stone toads and knew for sure Naruto had the same affinity for the toads that he did. He was even tempted to have the boy perform the summoning jutsu without the contract to shock the toads, but thought better of it.

Naruto had finally emerged from his shell and he was eager to learn more about the child he was denied.

"Well if I wasn't impressed before, I am now." He said allowing the awe to escape with an earnestness he never showed these days.

"Ehh, it's not really useful. I had felt the chakra all around me during one of my meditations and had thought about Jiji's conjecture regarding the nature of a chakra universe. I attempted to harness the chakra itself but was unable to. I'd realized that, when I connected with it I started to sense everything around me, but I'd turn to stone soon after."

He saw Naruto slipping away and spoke quickly, "How about we eat and talk seals?"

Naruto's head shot up, eyes wild with hope, "Really?"

Jariya smiled widely, "Of course."

 **Naruto**

Any doubt about the man's prowess with seals was banished the moment the first lesson began. All of the burning questions Naruto had about seals were answered and the man's chakra began to warm and swell with… He couldn't place it. It was easier to feel the nuances of the man's large chakra alone in the forest. The world felt quite around him as they began with barrier seals. Naruto soon found himself with a kindred soul in the old man's presence and he hung on every word as if it was the only sound in existence.

The way the demon shadow had cloaked himself from his senses was soon clear and he felt amiss, as to how the shadow had figured it all out on his own. Was the part of himself that made the shadow better at seals than the whole somehow?

They moved onto storage seals and it was time for the ultimate question.

"Jariya sama, where do the items go when they are sealed?"

Jariya paused for the first time and looked at him searchingly. "You don't know? I'm sure it was covered in the material you've read."

"Well, they said it was a pocket dimension but where is it? Where does the pocket dimension exist?" The words came with the hunger he'd felt all along. He knew the answer was important but couldn't identify why.

Jariya chuckled and rubbed his head affectionately. Naruto secretly took pleasure in the contact, but made no move to express it.

"It is everywhere and nowhere. It is its own space outside our universe that is created and anchored to the object the seal is placed on."

Naruto sat silently digesting the concept. "Why can't my clones be sealed?"

The space's volume is defined by the chakra used to create the space and any object that's chakra is not tightly bound just adds to the space. And no, I don't know how to get inside the space. Masters have been after it since the concept was first introduced, but when someone is placed into the space they always die, so don't get any ideas."

Naruto only smiled, "Too late sensei."

Jariya felt the pain grip his chest, hearing those words spoken in another time, by a mirror like image. He glanced away at the setting sun to hide the pain so deep that he could never hide it from his face.

"I'm sorry I just thought, that since you were teaching me…" Naruto's words trailed off with the slipping of the smile from his face.

Jariya only stood and began walking away. "Sensei is just fine Naruto, but today's lesson is over. You've got a big day tomorrow." And he was gone.

Naruto smiled to himself at the thought. He shunshined back to Yamato's place to see the man sitting in meditation inside a small, wooden, partial dome. The man rose and greeted him with a sharp nod, before turning towards the house. Naruto continued his walk and paused at the door.

'I'm sorry about missing this day Kyuubi. Have a good night.' He thought before passing through the doorway.

Naruto stayed up putting seals on his clothes, with help from a few clones. Three seemed to push him like he'd made 50 before. He put on the one way barriers seals, binding his chakra so that he couldn't be sensed. Once he was finished he thought, "Why not silencing seals?"

So, he placed them on his shoes so they wouldn't make sound. And then the thought for a moment about what else he could use. "Flash bangs!" He said happily, and then a sly foxy grin slid across his face.

 **Day 8**

A quick breakfast, run around the village with Yamato, and a shower saw Naruto on his way to the academy. He travelled under henge and when he got to the academy, hesitated at the entrance.

'I don't want to deal with questions and suspicions about those murders. Will they look at me with fear too? The adults couldn't say anything about the Kyuubi, but they could about the murders.'

"Kage" He whispered and a large cloak with a hood appeared over his head. He headed to the bathroom and closed his eyes to feel for anyone that was watching him. He could feel Yamato's chakra outside the building along with a few others. He entered a stall and placed barrier seal tags on each wall. Crouching on the toilet seat he made the cross shaped seal, so he wouldn't waste any chakra.

"Kage Kyuubi", and a red haired boy appeared in front of him.

The Kyuubi and he eyed each other for a long moment.

"Wait here for a few kids to come and go before you leave and one more thing."

Naruto unrolled a small portion of a scroll and unsealed an extra jacket. He handed it to Kyuubi with a smile. "I'm not going to lie to you. There is a small tracking seal on your form, so I can cancel you no matter where you are. This Jacket will hide your chakra to everyone but me. It'll appear to most people that you're a civilian.

The Kyuubi eyed him for another moment and then inclined his head.

Naruto smiled and said, "At least one of us will have the day to himself."

Naruto loitered around the halls, away from his classroom, until a few minutes from the start of class. When he entered, his hood was pulled down to hide his face. He could almost feel the students' attention focus on him. As he walked by Hinata he slipped a note into her jacket. When he passed Kiba he held out his fist, and was gifted a solid return bump. He slumped into a desk in the back next to the window and closed his eyes to listen to the children. Someone had come to his desk and, form the smell of deer, he knew it was Shikamaru.

Shikamaru sighed and spoke softly, "I thought more than I'd like to admit about our meeting the other day. Your deception throughout our time at the academy was flawless. I acknowledge you Naruto."

Without another word he left. Naruto sat, feel appreciation for the hood hiding his expression.

'Kyuubi', he thought.

A great stirring within him came before a flash of images. Naruto smiled softly, and thought, 'I knew you weren't all bad Kyuubi chan.'

The broiling anger he felt inside him made his smile spread into a grin.

Iruka came in and he pulled back the hood slightly to make eye contact. The man's eyes held weariness and Naruto felt a pang of sadness grip him. 'He's unsure.'

Naruto pulled the hood back and closed his eyes again. Iruka began with congratulations and then went into a speech. He talked about the three man cells they'd be placed on and how important they were.

"You will live and die by the strength of your team. No matter how talented or intelligent you are, without your team's trust and backing, you will die."

A thoughtful hush took the class. He began calling out names for teams and Naruto noticed most of the civilian students were being lumped together, until team 6.

"Team six; Nara Shikamaru, Akimiki Choji, Inuzuka Kiba, Jonin Captain Sarutobi Asuma."

Each of the boy smiled at each other.

"Team seven; Uzumaki Naruto, Yamanaka Ino, Jin Hewit."

Ino hopped up in protest, "Naruto didn't even graduate! How can he be on a team?

Iruka only nodded over at Naruto, whom pulled back his hood to reveal his head band.

Hushed conversations lit up like wildfire amongst the genin, and Ino plopped back into her seat.

Naruto nodded at her without a smile, and she was taken back by his somber facial expression. She glanced over at Hewit, whom obliviously started into his note book, and scowled.

"Team Eight; Aburame Shino, Hyuga Hinata, Hugo Nelu, Jonin Captain Yuhi Kurunai"

Each of them shared glances and nods.

"Team Nine is still in circulation from last year. Team Ten; Uchiha Sasuke, Haruno Sakura-"

"Ha, Ino pig! True loves conquers all!" Sakura yelled before being brow beaten into silence by Iruka.

"Yoha Yongi, Jonin Commander Genbo Hatsu. Now, you'll have an hour break to get to know your teammates before your Jonin Sensei picks you up. This is not a suggestion. It is your first order as Genin of this village." Iruka ended with a fierce look on his face and a tone more like a commander than the sensei they'd known.

The teams began to meet up and Naruto walked over to Hewit's desk, which was close to Ino's. He could see some of the civilian students avoiding him, though was comforted by the questioning looks from the kids from ninja families.

Ino remained at her desk, head atop it. Hewit glanced up at Naruto and nodded. "I knew you couldn't be that dumb. Well done Uzumaki."

Naruto held back the grimace, and smiled at the pale boy. He held out his fist and the boy only stared at it for a moment before looking up at Naruto questioningly.

"You're supposed to bump it with your fist." Naruto said encouragingly.

The boy lightly bumped his fist into Naruto's and gave a small grin.

Ino sighed loudly and looked over at them. Naruto held out his fist, "Like it or not Ino, we're going to be a team. The best team there is, believe it." His smile widen towards to end and even Hewit smiled at her sitting, leaning to the side of Naruto.

Ino's fist bumped his and stayed, "As long as you guys know I'm the boss." She looked seriously at them both awaiting their reply.

Naruto looked back at Hewit and winked, before looking to her with a foxy grin. "Sure thing Hime."

She smiled, "Good, because I don't need a couple of slackers for teammates."

A few minutes later they were eating at an Akimiki stand nearby. Ino had ordered a small salad and Naruto and Hewit were sharing an Akimichi sized bowl of sashimi salad. Naruto had been skeptical, but when Ino had offered to pay he accepted with gusto. Then the bowl, if you could call the baby sized bath tub a bowl, came and the last of Naruto's reserve had vanished.

They ate in companionable silence, until Ino broke it, a cloud of misery forming over her head.

"I can't believe Sakura gets to be on Sasuke's team. Now she's going to be all over him and I'll barely see him", Ino said poking the last leaf of salad with her fork.

Naruto was lightly elbowed by Hewit, who whispered, "You better nip this in the butt now, or she's going to be whining about this until we're chunin."

Naruto leaned back, putting his hands behind his head and staring off. "Yeah, you're pretty lucky Ino."

Ino dropped her fork into her plate and glared at him.

Naruto ignored the clattering of the fork, continuing, "We all know he wants to rebuild his clan, and wants a strong kunoichi. Not some weak fan girl. Sakura's going to annoy him to death and by the time we see them again you'll have become everything he's been looking for."

Hewit whistled a high to low tone, "Yep, you sure are lucky Ino. We'll work the hardest out of any of the teams and become so strong, the Uchiha will be begging to be with you."

Ino's glare softened into a grin. "Yeah, forehead's got no chance."

They walked back talking jovially about what their sensei might be like and what kind of training they'd be doing. Hewit showed them a few of his inventions and Naruto revealed a bit about his sealing arts. They talked about some tactics they could use and Ino began to feel like she'd need to come up with more to contribute. When they got close to the academy Hewit stopped them.

"Hey guys, from now on we're a real ninja squad. Let's put our game faces on and start acting the part when we're not alone, okay?" He put his fist out in the middle of their group. Naruto and Ino added their fists to make an awkward triangle and Naruto shouted, "Team Seven!" Hewit and Ino added their shouts soon after.

When they came into the class room Naruto was first, followed by Ino and Hewit.

Sakura scooted closer to Sasuke and waved with her fingers at Ino, whom pointedly ignored her. They took up a spot in the rear, where Naruto normally sat, and spoke quietly to each other, ignoring everyone else.

Iruka arrived, not too long after, and stood eyeing the assembled teams. He nodded to each of the groups that looked like they'd done what they were supposed to do and was surprised to see Naruto's team looking almost like real squad. Naruto gave him a foxy grin and he noted similar grins on his teammates sitting over each shoulder.

"Alright, let me bring in the Jonin captains."

Everyone turned to the door, to hear some scuffling and curses before the door slid open. Kakashi came strolling in briskly, scanning the faces of the genin, "Team seven, report", he all but shouted.

Team seven quickly stood up with a sharp, "Hai sensei." Naruto leaped up and landed a few feet away from the man, followed, a heartbeat of hesitation later, by Ino and Hewit. All three bowed at the waist.

Naruto spoke first, "Team seven at your command sir."

Kakashi nodded once, turned, and walking briskly out the door. A black haired woman with red eyes side step out of his way, left eye twitching with furry.

The class sat in silence as they marched out after their sensei, and most began to sit up a little straighter.

Kakashi rounded the corner spoke over his shoulder, "Roof top, quick as possible", and he was gone in a puff of smoke.

Naruto looked at his teammates' stunned faces before he grabbed them and went into shunshin. His coils burned at the extra bodies, but he ignored it until they were all on the roof.

When they appeared he, attempted to hide his deep breathes and Ino attempted not to throw up in front of their sensei.

Kakashi nodded, "Good, follow me", and took off across the roof tops at speed.

Naruto leapt after him, struggling to keep up. A few minutes later he realized his teammates were far behind. He grit his teeth and made a shadow clone to follow his sensei, while he hung back to wait for his teammates to catch up. Both arrived moments later and he eyed their breathless forms, before looking back where their sensei had been and cursed softly.

"How can you be so fast?" came between Hewit's gasps for breath. Ino only looked at him, gripping her knees and waiting for his answer. He ignored the question and reached out for their hands. I can shunshin us in the general direction until I know where he is taking us, but I can't keep doing that. Ino looked like she was going to protest, but Hewit's quiet voice came out first.

"Thanks Naruto."

Ino seemed to think better of her indignation and took his hand. They vanished in a swirl of leaves and appeared towards the edge of the village. He was gasping for breath, hands on his knees for a moment. He received the flash of memory from his clone. Their sensei was at a training ground and looked pissed. He could still hear the man's gruff question echo in his mind, "Where's my team?"

Naruto grit his teeth and pivoted into a run, "Hurry guys, he's waiting."

A few minutes later they burst into the clearing, each of them looking equally in shambles from the sprint.

Kakashi took in their appearance, "Too slow. A team can only move as quickly as its slowest member."

Ino looked at the man in fury and was about to speak, but Naruto beat her to it. "I'm sorry sensei, we'll get faster."

Silence reigned for several moments and Naruto seemed to be the first to begin to slow his breathing.

Kakashi nodded at this and spoke," No Jonin commander is required to take a team, and, as such, often test their genin to see if they have what it takes to be shinobi of this village. According to Konoha's charter, a genin team should be able to take on a Jonin. Let's see if this is true. Come with the intent to kill, or you won't even have a chance to pass this test."

Naruto stood up quickly and got into stance, just in time to receive a hard right hook to his face. He stumbled passed his teammates to his sides and Kakashi flew between them to kick Naruto in the stomach. His cloak whipped off with the force of the kick and before he hit the tree he disappeared in a puff of smoke.

"Scatter!" he shouted to his teammates, standing where the cloak had been fluttering to the ground, half a second ago. This seemed to pull his shocked teammates back into reality. Kakashi only spared them a glance as they sputtered and fled to the trees. Three shadows came into existence, one to each side of the original and the third crouched on Naruto's back. The one on Naruto's back jumped off as hard as he could as Naruto detached his weights. He sped at the Jonin and before his face met the Jonin's palm heel, the shadow that had jumped off replaced with him. The shadow stalled in the air just out of the palm strike's reach and whipped out a kick. The Jonin ducked, pivoting into a round house kick. A small whiff of smoke and the shadow was suddenly dropping under the kick punching out at the man's crouch. Kakashi pulled in his kick, leaning forward to save his manhood. He continued the spinning motion to roll away from the shadow, whom was suddenly launching forward with a rising kick too quickly for Kakashi to believe.

Kakashi popped up, out of the roll. Another wisp of smoke and the kicking shadow was replaced with one throwing a fist full shuriken. Kakashi batted them away, closing in quickly. He feigned a right hook to see the shadow replaced with one leaning away and quickly kicked out. The shadow dissipated leaving little smoke behind.

Three shadows circled slowly around Kakashi moving through different forms. A whistling sound caused him to lean to the side to avoid a kunai, which exploded by his face, leaving a cloud of smoke.

One of the shadows was kicked into smoke a moment later. The other two arced around the cloud of smoke to engaged Kakashi, but he was gone by the time they could see each other. A back fist came out from the dissipating cloud and ended one of the shadows. The other started back paddling, but Kakashi was in front of him in a blink of an eye. The shadow's head band flashed brightly and Kakashi was caught off guard by the light erupting from Naruto's head band.

From the forest a net burst out and wrapped around Kakashi. A moment later Ino darted out to stab a log. Kakashi burst out from the ground grabbing her ankles, and a shadow was in her place neck deep in the ground. She dropped from the sky with a kick and Kakashi blocked the kick with his arm, to have her replaced with Naruto, slapping some device that latched onto his wrist and began draining his chakra.

Kakashi's replacement failed and he paled at the thought. He could feel a kunai press against his inner thigh and Hewit spoke. "Gottcha."

Kakashi burst into a puff of smoke and Hewit blanched looking over the see Naruto getting beat down by Kakashi. His defenses where bat aside and the fatigue was obvious. Ino launch at Kakashi and, after kicking Naruto away, was given her own treatment. Hewit whipped out a small lance – like – dagger, attached to a wire, and tried to wrap it around Kakashi with a throw just off to his side. Kakashi caught it while punching Ino in the gut. She doubled over giving a long grunt in pain. Kakashi quickly looped the rope around her neck and sent lightning down through the wire. Hewit and Ino went stiff as the electricity tightened all of their muscles. The electricity stopped after a moment and they collapsed to the ground. Hewit was fighting to remain conscious, when he heard Naruto's voice. He looked over to see Naruto on all fours.

"I'm sorry Sensei, we'll do better next time."

Naruto's limbs were shaking with the effort of keeping him up and Hewit could hear Ino moaning softly.

"We'll see next time. This is training ground seven and it will mold you into fearsome shinobi. You will pay it in liters of your blood, sweat and tears, for the next year or so. If you live that long. Congratulations on becoming ninja of team seven. I'll see you all at 5 am tomorrow. Be ready to pay."

And the man was gone. Hewit heard Naruto hit the ground with a soft thud and closed his eyes.

 **A/N** ** _:_** _Big thanks to,_ _SamusOlderBrother_ _,_ _AvidReader, and NightWithMoon_ _for taking precious time to review my story. You guys help keep me writing, I can't say thanks enough._


	10. C - rank

**A/N;** _Hope you guys are still enjoying this fic. Big thanks to_ _tavairussanchez_ _,_ _NightWithMoon_ _and_ _for the reviews. They keep me motivated when someone takes the time to write a review. R &R!_

 **C - Rank?**

Kakashi arrived at the Hokage's office, hours after the Jonin meeting would have ended. The Hokage was waiting for him, hands tight in front of his mouth.

"Hokage sama", Kakashi said bowing to the old man. "Team seven passed with flying colors."

Sarutobi leaned forward and spoke softly, "What happened to the bell test?"

Kakashi's eye curled up showing his smile, "Naruto had passed my test long ago. I would have only failed the other two if they had refused his help or not come to his aid."

Sarutobi leaned back in his chair frowning for a moment, "I see. I must say, I was impressed that they'd stepped up to fight after the beating you gave the boy. Was that truly necessary?"

Kakashi's smile faded and he looked out the window to the Hokage monument. "I needed to know if they'd fight for him. That in the face of over whelming odds and threat of severe pain they would move to defend their teammate. You know as well as I that war with Kumo is immanent."

The old man sighed and leaned back, "We don't know that for sure. Rumors and hearsay are hardly a declaration of war."

"And what about Iwa? He's looking more like his father every day. If Kumo sparks a war with us, Iwa will join them for the sheer pleasure. As much as we try to stop it, genin always end up fighting, and he'll need to be as strong as possible."

Sarutobi turned to look out the window. "Kakashi, just be careful. Inoichi will be here within minutes of seeing his little girl's face."

"I doubt it." Kakashi said and then moved closer to the window. "I should probably go though."

The third gestured to the couch. "Oh no, my boy. You have a seat right there. He shouldn't be long now."

 **Naruto**

It was late in the day when Naruto peeled open his eyes. Crusted blood made the motion much more difficult than normal. His body ached and his head began to swim when he pushed himself up. He took a few deep steadying breathes, resting on his knees. He looked over to his teammates and saw them laid out where they'd been hours ago. He reached into his reserve and grimaced. He was still extremely low, and not for the first time he cursed the limiter seal.

'Everything seems so much more difficult and tiring now. I don't have chakra for another shadow and even my wounds haven't quiet healed yet.' He glanced at his weights and laughed lightly.

"Guess I'll just leave those there for now. I think even sealing them could drain me more than I could handle, and still get these two home."

He dragged Hewit next to Ino and began the awkward dance of pulling each one over his shoulder. He tried to grab Ino after putting Hewit over first shoulder and dropped her. She hit the ground and he held his breath.

"Shit."

Ino moaned and then jolted awake as if to shield herself.

Naruto crouched down next to her and set Hewit down. "Afternoon Hime."

She groaned again, "What happened? Did we pass?"

Naruto smiled, "Yeah, we passed. We need to report back here at 5 am."

She shakily sat up, "That was brutal. I can't believe you were able to fight like that. I – don't even know how you were able to do that."

Naruto looked at her seriously, "Ino, I've done my best to keep my abilities hidden and I need for you to keep quiet about what I can do."

Ino stared at him for a long while, before nodding her head.

Naruto stood up and offered his hand. "Come on Hime. I've got to get Hewit home. You wana come along?"

Ino continued to stare at him. "You're not like I thought you were."

"The Second Hokage said, a ninja must always look underneath the underneath." Naruto said with a smile.

Twenty minutes later they were walking into the village proper. He'd asked Ino to unseal a cloak and reseal his weights. Luckily, it seemed she was more interested in all the other storage seals and what they contained than why he wanted the cloak. As they came to Hewit's shop, his legs and arms were burning, trembling from the extra strain. It was made worse from the heat of the winter cloak and it seemed like Ino had finally noticed how slow he gotten. When they actually reached the shop door he couldn't wait to get the kid off of himself.

"Oi!" He yelled at the closed door of the shop. "I have Hewit Jin here. He was hurt during training and –"

The door swung open and a black haired man eyed him for a moment, before examining Ino. His gaze fell on the Hewit and he sighed, reaching out to roll the boy onto his shoulder.

"So you two are his new teammates I gather. Who's your Jonin commander?"

"Hatake Kakashi, sir." Naruto said trying to get his breathing under control.

The man raised an eyebrow at this and nodded. "He's one of the best. Next time, you might as well pitch a tent at the training ground. I'll sent a few with Hewit tomorrow, on the house of course."

Naruto smiled at the man, and Ino paled.

"I'm sure we'll be in better shape next time." Naruto supplied with a smile, already feeling better without his burden.

The man let out a hearty chuckle. "I doubt that, most of the Jonin captains like to run their genin hard in the beginning. Thank you for bringing him home."

Ino stepped forward eye wide, "You mean this wasn't just for the test?"

The man smiled widely at her and closed the door in their faces.

Ino gawked at the act and walked away a few feet. She stood in silence before turning to look at Naruto over her shoulder.

Naruto shifted a bit, giving Ino a small smile. "It is what we wanted. To get stronger right?"

Ino scowled at the thought, tilting her head to stretch her muscles, "I just didn't think it'd be so hard, or painful." Her hand came up to rub at her neck, and she started to walk away.

After a few feet she half – turned to Naruto. "You're going to let a lady walk home by herself?"

Naruto smiled widely, jogging to her side, "Of course not hime."

 **Day 9**

Naruto was drawn from a heavy sleep when the light clicked on in his room. A moment later he was being shaken.

"Genin Uzumaki, get up." A gruff voice, the first thing he heard that morning.

He begrudgingly opened his eyes to see his sensei looming over him.

"Outside, ten minutes, dressed and ready to pay."

Naruto looked wide eyed to the clock next to his bed, 3:45 am.

'Shit.'

By 3:55 Naruto was stumbling out of Yamato's house.

Kakashi stood, arms crossed outside his house. Naruto jogged up to the jonin and stood at attention in front of his commander.

"Why do you want to be a shinobi?"

"Because I want to be Hokage."

"Why?"

Naruto's response rolled in his mind, 'So everyone in the village will acknowledge me?'

'Because…'

"Because the fourth entrusted me with the safety of this village. I inherited his will of fire the day I was born and the second's the night I became a ninja. I will become the greatest Hokage ever."

Kakashi eye smiled at Naruto, "Yon daime was my sensei. I will do my best to fan –." Kakashi's eye twitched. Then his whole body shuttered.

"I will help you do it." Kakashi said softly, with his eye closed.

Naruto nodded at his sensei, fighting the urge to step back away from the man.

"Thank you sensei."

"Now, no chakra, jump as high as you can."

Naruto stared at him for a bit before jumping into the air a few feet. Kakashi crouched down to pull up Naruto's pant leg and looked at the weights on his ankles and wrists, "Seriously?"

Kakashi looked at him with a squinted eye.

"How good are your seals?"

Naruto stared hard at the man.

"Good enough."

"So, you know about directed force seals and feed-back loops?"

Naruto squinted his eyes at Kakashi, "In theory, but my direct interests have led me elsewhere in practice."

Kakashi eye smiled, ripped the weights off and slapped small bracelets in their place.

"Yon daime, always said that there was promise for complex systems with feedback loops. You think about that and let me know if you'd like an introduction."

Kakashi made to stand and paused, "And if you touch my pretty seals I'll make you wish you hadn't."

He gave Naruto a fierce look and stood up.

He put a necklace around Naruto's neck and held the small charm on it. Suddenly Naruto could feel a small amount of his chakra start to flow into the charm and his body became increasingly heavy.

Kakashi stood back and said, "Again."

Naruto jumped into the air about the same height.

Kakashi reached forward and pull more of his reserves into the charm.

"Again."

The weight was now oppressive and when he jumped, he only got a few inches into the air.

"Good, follow me."

Kakashi took off at a slow jog, and Naruto began the most difficult run of his life. The air seemed to grab hold of every part of him and he grit his teeth to "run". Kakashi jogged back around and motioned for him to swing his arms up and down with his steps and soon he was doing more, an exaggerated march than anything else.

An hour later, they reached team seven training ground and started doing circles around the perimeter. Soon Hewit and Ino arrived doing their own forced march around the training ground, led by another Kakashi.

Two of the Kakashi shadows walked off and one went to stand in the center.

"Kakashi sensei", Ino snuck out between deep breaths and stomping feet.

"How long are we going to do this?"

"Until I tell you to stop." Kakashi said, casually pulling an orange book out of his pocket. He stood there reading and soon giggleing, pulling his hand up as if to stifle the laughter.

An hour later Hewit's legs were shaking violently. He fell to a knee wheezing, and Kakashi put away his book.

"Alright! Warm up is over. Sip some water and cool down in the shade."

Naruto walked over and helped Hewit up. "Whew, I wouldn't have lasted another second."

The boy smiled at both gestures, "Thanks Naruto."

Ino gave Hewit an appreciative look and dragged her feet slowly towards the tree line.

Kakashi came over by and stared down at them, from over his book. He put it way and formed a few hand signs. Green light glowed on his hands as he crouched down in front of Hewit. He ran his hands over the major muscle groups and lingered for a moment, before moving on. After a moment Hewit smiled up at Kakashi, "Thanks."

Kakashi did the same for Ino, but when he got to Naruto, there was no warm healing chakra flowing into himself.

His initial thoughts were reminiscent of how he was treated at the academy. Before he opened his mouth to say something, he remembered that the Kyuubi was already healing him.

'Kakashi's trying to level the playing field, so that my teammates can grow as fast as me.'

Kakashi stood up and said, "Naruto, your break is now over. Leave a shadow and continue running."

Naruto nodded, made the hand sign and said, "Kage bushin no justu."

The shadow came into existence next to Kakashi, whom made two shadows of his own.

"Ok guys, you each get a personal training session with me, to assess your skills and figure out where you need to improve. Afterwards, we'll be looking for your chunin specialty. Each chunin has one particular specialty that they excel in and a tokubestu jonin is one who's mastered their specialty. I need to see that you've almost mastered your specialty before I even think about entering you into the chunin exams. As you know it is the most prestigious way to advance to the chunin rank. I expect to be able to sign each of you up for it next year. Work hard and prove to me your worth fighting next to me as a shinobi of the village. I will do the rest."

Each of the Kakashis took a genin and walked off.

And they trained…

 **Day 35**

Ino stood against the side of large building in a less than favorable residential district. Her large white overalls contrasted harshly with the deep red coating she was lathering the building with. She'd stopped to wipe her brow and check again to make sure her clothes were still clean.

Naruto whispered in her ear. "That seal's not going to fail Ino."

She jumped around in a spinning kick. He leaned back towards the wall and she thrust the mope – like paint – brush out at him. He threw himself down away from the assault, griped the wall with his hand, a few feet down, and swung himself around beneath her. She let herself fall hoping to catch him with a swing of her brush.

He could feel her chakra try to grasp at his mind and he flexed his chakra to push her away. He grit his teeth as the brush was much closer then he'd thought. He tapped the wall and took off, far from her reach.

"Naruto!" Ino cried out, catching herself after sliding down the wall a few feet.

"I told you to stop doing that!" she continued, face red from anger.

"You have to take that up with Kakashi." Naruto said with sly grin. "He's the one that said your situational awareness was bad. Naruto let go of his grip on the wall and leaned back away from a short javelin whizzing by his head. His fall took him into the shocked face and wild eyes of Hewit. Eyes which shut tight when Naruto's back hand roughly tapped his face. Hewit fell for a moment before another javelin shot out from his waist, and impaled the wall. Hewit grabbed the line and swung back up to perch next to Ino. Both javelin zipped up and snapped into Hewit's hands.

"I still don't understand why you can't make a couple shadows to help us bust this out quicker, or even train? If you remember what they do, you could be learning everything twice as quickly, with just one clone. This stupid rule about your clones is bullshit."

Naruto frowned and jumped down to the ground.

"Hey, you know there's probably a good reason he can't talk about." Ino whispered to him.

Hewit squinted at her, "You know don't you."

Ino sighed and walked up the wall. Hewit walked quickly to stay close, "Some of the villagers say he's a murderer."

Ino paused and looked down at Naruto putting on his painting equipment. "Naruto wouldn't hurt anyone."

Hewit leaned in and whispered, "I know that, but why him? I've even heard the other civilians calling him a demon. The other day a person at the shop apologized to me for having the bad luck of being teamed up with the monster, and told me to stay strong."

He paused, looking a Naruto compare the large brushes. "There is some kind of secret about Naruto that must be classified. You know he's got to be the strongest ninja in our age group."

Ino felt Sasuke's name on the tip of her tongue, but she'd been warring with herself about their relative strength since their first spar with Kakashi. She nodded at him and they shared a ponderous moment.

Naruto's breath was on their faces, huffing inches away from them, "What are we talking about?" He whispered loudly.

Ino jumped a bit losing her chakra bond to the wall and screamed while falling towards the ground, "Naruto!"

Three hours later and they were walking back to the Hokage's office. Naruto was wearing his customary oversized cloak while Hewit eyed the villager's faces watching to see if anyone recognized Naruto.

Kakashi appeared in the road ahead and gestured to the roof. After another person briefly blocked their view of him, he was gone.

Naruto's heart eyes gleamed at the stealth the man had and was leaping after his sensei moments after he lost sight of the man. Hewit and Ino arrived moments later on the roof. Naruto was rising from his 'Ass kissing bow' as Hewit liked to call it.

Kakashi squared off with his team and spoke.

"I'm calling an early day today. We've pulled patrol duty with team ten, and you need to pack and prepare. Shift call is 8 am. Pack to be gone for two weeks. Questions?"

Ino's eyes glazed over as she started to think about Sasuke.

"Which Boarder", Hewit called out, Naruto already unsealing a small map from a flap in his arm bracer.

"Land of Rivers."

"OOooo spooky", said Hewit.

Naruto looked up at Kakashi from his map. "Have you ever met a river folk person?"

"No, but I've heard enough to respect their boarders. Anything else?"

Hewit jumped up, "This is going to be great right? It's C rank correct?"

"Yes, this will be our first C rank mission. We'll be going on patrol every four months, in rotation with the other genin teams. Now that should be good enough for now. You two head out. I need to speak with Uzumaki for a moment, privately."

Hewit and Ino gave clipped bows to their sensei and said their good byes.

Kakashi watched his genin leave, and then focused on his remaining student.

"Your designs were… elegant. I'm not sure what the applications are, but I would suggest talking to Hewit about it."

Naruto looked like he'd taken of bite from something questionable.

"Hewit asks too many questions."

Kakashi leaned in close, "Then answer them and be done with it. I chose this team for a reason. Don't let your insecurities stop this team from being the best shinobi squad since the legendary three. We both know he'd figure out something to do with those seals, and it could be a great breakthrough for this village. Also, a huge step in the direction of being acknowledged for your positive contributions, aside from being a great killer."

Naruto stood stone faced, eyes down cast.

"In addition, I'm deeming this mission the test for you to operate without the limiting seal active. I don't want you making hundreds of clones for training. I just need to know, that if the unforeseen occurs, I can count on you to step up."

Kakashi put a hand on Naruto's shoulder and the boys eyes came up to meet Kakashi's.

"You can count on me, sensei." Kakashi nodded and spoke, "If anything happens on any mission, where I'm incapacitated, you have full operational control. I've cleared this with the other Jonin Captain and he's agreed to sign off on your secondary orders."

Kakashi slid a scroll into Naruto's vest pocket as he walked passed the boy. "Don't touch that until the moment arises. It has orders for this mission should things go bad. Each mission we go on I'll be giving you one to hold and return should things go bad. I assume you already know how temporarily disable the limiters seal."

Naruto turned to face the man and he was gone.

'Sensei.' He thought gazing over the roof tops of the village.

'What if they fear me?'

 **Day 36**

Naruto met the day in darkness. Roused by the slightest stirring of chakra. He rolled back off of his bed from the presence in his room. Right hand pulling his favorite, extra – long knife, from the sheath, under his pillow. The left hand snagging a slip of paper from his desk, and giving it a miniscule amount of chakra, while flicking into the air. The room burst into light with a sizzling flame from the paper slowly fluttering to the floor. Naruto, could no longer feel the presence, and the light bathing the room revealed no intruder. A shadow loomed by the door way, filling Naruto with a deep dread. He pulsed his chakra, ripping apart the delicate web of foreign chakra in his mind.

"Kage."

The room and hallway light up with bright symbols, and four shadows appeared.

 **Original**

He pivoted around the bed to duck out of the way and pull his bracers and sandals on.

'I'm getting out this time, believe it.'

 **Shadow**

He appeared under the bed senses on high alert. He felt wisps of chakra from the area genjutsu his feet were suddenly intruding on and dispelled.

 **Original**

He switched with the shadow in the hallway and sprinted making three clones and closing his eyes, flipping a kunai behind himself. Two ahead and one behind.

The shadow behind him yelled to the two standing on the bed," 12 oclock, triple wide", catching the kunai. He flung the kunai, which became 20 the moment it left his hand.

The two ahead of the original whispered, "Kage", and the living room lit up in a flash, leaving a large glowing symbol on the ceiling.

The original opened his eyes after the flash, reached both hands out yelling, "Four paths."

Four shadow appeared in a square, backs facing each other, four feet apart at a side.

 **Shadow**

He appeared on the bed crouched in a fighting stance. The room looked empty and he began to feel like he'd had a bad dream and should go back to sleep. Suddenly, the shadow that was outside the doorway flickered, and took off down the hall. Another shadow appeared, in the doorway, catching a knife and calling for a shadow kunai assault directly ahead. He thought 'kage' forming a kunai in his hand. And made to flick it. Kakashi seemed to slide from under wallpaper on the left and slipped a blade into his neck, while over 50 kunai sprayed half of the room.

 **Original**

He eased into the moment, feeling his leg extending out for the next step in his dash. He slid back into a very similar memory where the shadow to his left was killed and he had just enough time to face Kakashi, before a kunai flew into his chest. His back leg was, again curling for another stride, in his run. The four shadow in the square still in front of him

'Three.'

 **Shadow**

As the kunai, and its 20 friends he conjured, flew into the space in front of him, the air seemed shimmer and wave. Kakashi was suddenly stabbing a shadow on the bed and flicking a kunai at the one leaning way from the man.

He made 6 shadows in the room to spar with Kakashi and another down the hallway to focus on the exploding symbol and dispelled himself.

 **Original**

The leg that had been curling was now rolling forward.

His mind flickered between this moment and a few, quick, losing exchanges with his sensei's lightning chakra, cracking around his fingers.

'Two, one.'

He thought as his legs continued their dance. Spinning around and sliding backwards into the human square; each of the shadow slapping down their hands and saying, "Seal."

A square of light formed around the shadows, each at a corner. The light shot up from every point, creating a box that extended to the arced ceiling.

An explosion blew apart the hallway, along with the rest of the house. The cracking of debris against the barrier caused Naruto to flinch away and thank kami, the four paths seal was as strong as it was. Yamato's room and Naruto's closet was all that was left of the house as the dust settled.

He flickered to the lives of the shadows holding the wall to watch Kakashi flash to the back of the barrier just before the explosion. Kakashi, then, slapped a disruption tag on the barrier wall and shocked the shadows into smoke as the dust was clearing. He finished replaying the memories just in time to feel his body seize up with electricity and hit the ground in a heap.

"I'd say you almost made it this time." Kakashi said casually flicking two small bolts of lightning, to dispel the last two shadows, eyeing him like they were thinking about doing something.

He rolled over to look up at his sensei, grinning. "I'm outside, aren't I?"

Kakashi looked up at the morning sky, "Mah."

He waived his hand dismissingly. "I guess it's true."

He looked suddenly towards Yamato's room, which caused Naruto to roll to his knees and look as well.

Yamato's angry face was protruding from the wood of his room. "Senpai!" He scream at them, "This is the last straw! I'm not going to be re-creating my house every other day! Uzumaki, you're guardianship has, effective immediately, been reassigned to your sensei." Yamato lingered a moment glaring at Kakashi, looking more annoyed than mad. Kakashi nodded to him and his head vanished back, into the tiny wood house.

Kakashi turned to Naruto smiling, "If you blow up my house, I'll maim you."

An hour later they were walking up to the main village gates. Yingi and, who Naruto assumed to be his sensei were already there. Yingi standing in the middle of the road, in his black robe and his hand resting lightly on the hilt of his sword. The red sheath matched his hair, and he eyed Naruto's gate carefully.

"Hatake sensei, Uzumaki", he gave a clipped bow to Kakashi and a nod to Naruto. Naruto glanced at the spot in the bushes where the large chakra source was sitting.

'He's not even attempting to hide his presence.' He thought confused.

Naruto glanced back at Yingi, whom nodded at him with a thoughtful look.

Ino and Hewit walked up together, minutes later. They gave a bow to Kakashi and Ino glanced at the hiding presence. Naruto nodded to her with a smirk and bumped fists with them both in greeting.

Naruto, Ino, and Hewit lined up in front of Kakashi and Naruto spoke. "Team seven reporting for 8 am call."

Kakashi, nodded. "Scatter and wait on my signal to leave."

Naruto, Ino, and Hewit jumped away. Naruto took a spot on a roof, overlooking the entrance to the gate. Ino slipped under an area genjustu in a tree nearby and Hewit was deep in the bushes before Naruto could get proper eyes on him.

'Damn, I can't determine his position. He's getting really good.'

Sasuke was soon strolling down the road along with a chirping Sakura. He looked pained.

Sasuke came and stood next to Yingi, Sakura in toe, both greeting Kakashi. Sasuke noticed his sensei's chakra and called for him to come out.

"Sensei, we're ready to go." He glanced over at Kakashi and asked, "Is your team normally late?"

"Mah, mah they're ready to go" Kakashi said dismissively, hand waving at the child, eyes still on his book.

Genbo Hatsu emerged, suddenly, from the bushes and Sakura jumped a bit in surprise.

Hatsu tsk'ed at his team, glanced at Kakashi from the corner of his eye and could feel the smugness radiating from him.

He looked at his genin, faintly acknowledging Sakura's protest to his sudden appearance with a half – hearted smile.

"Ok kids, line up."

The genin shuffled around a bit until they were side – by – side.

He gestured at Kakashi, "This is Hatake Kakashi, and he will be taking point on this mission. You are to follow his directions as you would any superior officer."

Kakashi snapped the book closed and spoke loudly. "We're heading south, I will take point followed by team seven, then ten and Genbo san will take the rear. Squad leaders for this mission are Uzumaki and Yingi. Devise your own inner formations while travelling."

Sasuke stepped forward and called out to the man, "I should be squad leader."

Kakashi turned to the boy and glared. "I've personally reviewed your files and came to the conclusion that Yongi has been the most level headed and professional in mission reports. I will let this slip go, but in the future, you need to remember how you're to address me. When I call orders, your job is to smile and do. Understood genin?"

"Yes, sensei."

"And stand up straight when you're called to attention, or are being address by a superior officer." Kakashi finished his voice having grown in intensity, a bit of killing intent leaking out.

He glanced around to inspect the hiding spots of his genin and signaled his team, before shunshinning out a few feet from the gates.

They ran for four hours and Naruto was feeling great. Kakashi had designated this mission resistance seals off, and his chakra felt endless. He'd known he had large amounts of chakra, but the time he'd spent cut off from most of it, showed him the reality of his reserves. Ino and Hewit seemed to be doing well but Team ten had started to fall behind an hour ago. Yingi had disappeared from his sight a few minutes ago and he whistled for a halt to Kakashi.

Kakashi dropped to the forest and team seven surrounded him on guard. A minute later Yongi and Sasuke landed and dropped to their knees gripping the ground and breathing heavily. 10 minutes later Sakura and Hatsu arrived.

"Yongi, are you aware that convoys are required to stay in line of sight of the people trailing them?"

Yongi rose to attention and shook his head. Kakashi eyed Hatsu whom seemed to fade a bit from the group.

"When you lose sight of the person behind you, you are required to call for a stop with this whistle."

He signaled to Hewit, who gave the whistle.

"All squads at ease, 1 hour respite. Naruto five shadows for perimeter, and five to gather us some forage – ables."

"Yes sensei", and ten Naruto's appeared, heading off in different directions.

Kakashi gave Hatsu a look and they both walked off into the forest.

Ino was already chatting with Sakura who was sitting under a tree sipping water.

Sasuke looked at Naruto with wide eyes, "How do you know that jutsu?"

Naruto looked at him for a long moment, watching Sasuke's eyes look over his whisker marks, and spoke, "I'm sorry for deceiving you Sasuke, but I didn't want anyone to know my true strength."

Hewit stepped away from the scene glancing back and forth between the two.

Sasuke lurched to his feet, "You… can't be him." Naruto's eyes remained on Sasuke's unable to think of anything he could say.

Sasuke darted at Naruto. Naruto flexed his chakra for a shadow, atop a branch above, whom replaced itself with him. The shadow took Sasuke's kick unflinchingly, disappearing into a puff of smoke. Sasuke looked around quickly and soon found Naruto stand on the tree above him.

"Sasuke, sparring during a mission is against protocol. And, I'm not in the mood for punishment from sensei."

Sasuke stared at him for a while, before Sakura came over to stare at Naruto. "Why are you upsetting Sasuke kun, Naruto baka?"

Sasuke ignored the girl and stared into Naruto's eyes. 'The same eyes from before.' He thought.

"You owe me a spar and some answers Uzumaki." Sasuke said before walking away.

Sakura glared at Naruto and Ino's hand came to rest on her shoulder. "You should let them take care of it themselves Sakura."

Sakura made to walk up to the tree, "I just have to remind him of how he's supposed to be treat Sasuke kun."

The grip increase on Sakura's shoulder and Ino shook her head. "The Naruto you knew from the Academy was an act Sakura. He's strong, and I wouldn't recommend you just walk up and try to strike him."

Sakura looked at Ino incredulously and turned back towards Naruto. He was calmly walking down the tree and Hewit was moving to meet him at its base. She gawked at how he was able to walk on the surface of the tree and looked to Yongi. Yongi was sitting a few feet away eyeing Naruto. He glanced at Sakura and shook his head slowly.

They were running at a much slower pace when they resumed their journey. Naruto noted the tight formation team ten was now in and Sasuke looked contemplative. After another five hours of traveling they broke camp for the night.

Kakashi went over the details of the mission and they ate a boar, Sasuke and Yongi had caught. While they ate, the team ten had sat pointedly at away from team seven. Kakashi eyed them and called for mixed team watches.

 **Naruto and Sasuke**

Sasuke spent the first hour across from Naruto in the trees surrounding the camp ground. Naruto felt him staring at him. The fire was a low crackling flame, and Naruto's shadow clone over saw its slow diet of arm – sized – branches.

Over time Sasuke seemed to fade out of the moon's light into the leaves of the tree. Naruto wasn't sure what to say to Sasuke and was suddenly aware that he'd basically tricked him. Became his one friend and vanished, without a trace.

'I'd even hoped he would be on my team.' Naruto thought.

He jumped to the tree, close to where he felt Sasuke's chakra.

He listened until he could hear Sasuke's breath. He closed eyes and whispered "kage."

A few one – way silence seals appeared around them.

"Sasuke, I'm going to tell you an S – class secret. Divulgence of this secret by anyone other than me or the Hokage is punishable by death. Do you understand?" Naruto whispered into the darkness.

Sasuke leaned into the moonlight, so his face could be seen. He nodded, sliding back almost completely into darkness again.

"I am the village's weapon…"

 **A/N** ; _I found a job and I start work on Monday. Celebration, though I might not be able to write as much for a few weeks, but who knows. I can't see myself not writing whenever I have a chance._ _Not sure about this last scene with Sasuke. Still up in the air how this was go down._


End file.
